English Writing Course

Essay

by
Prof. Loubna A. Youssef
Department of English

Faculty of Arts - Cairo University

2023

1802 Essay III (8)

2 Essay III

Copyrights Reserved
2023

Designing & Formatting

by Book Production Department
E-mail: [email protected]
Essay III 3

Contents

Subject Page
Introduction …………………………………………….. 5
Chapter I. From Paragraph to Essay …………………….. 13
Chapter II. Critical Thinking Rather than Comprehension 45
Chapter III. Process of Reading and Writing …………… 65
Chapter IV. Research and Structure …………………….. 89
Chapter V. WRITING an ESSAY with a Purpose? …..… 123
Chapter VI. Academic Writing and Academic Integrity ... 153
Chapter VII. Applications: Readings with Arguments …. 179
Glossary …………………………………………………. 193
References ……………………………………………….. 197
Supplementary Material with Explanations …………... 199
4 Essay III
Essay III 5

Introduction

All Essay Writing Courses in the Blended Writing Canter

rely on the following principles:

• Reading and writing are interrelated.

• Writing is a process.
• Research is necessary in life.

• Reading and writing involves research.

• Academic integrity and Copyright Law are vital in learning

how to write.
• The rhetorical situation is basic to writing.

In the Department of English Translation, there are four

writing courses:

Composition/Essay I

Essay and Reading Comprehension

Essay II

Essay III

Course Objectives of Essay III

This course is focuses on essay writing through a critical
reading approach. Upon completion of this course, students
should be able to:
6 Essay III

• Read essays that apply rhetorical modes.

• Analyse essays.
• Write well structured essays with an argument.

• Use all seven rhetorical modes in writing.

• Observe academic integrity.

Intended Learning Outcomes:

A. Knowledge and Understanding:

1. Recognize the different modes.

2. Recognize the components of a paragraph as part of an
essay.

3. Recognize paragraph and essay structure.

4. Recognize the difference between different modes in an

essay.

5. Understand the importance of punctuation.

6. Discover the relation between meaning and grammar.

7. Recognize the use of rhetorical modes in prose passages.

8. Demonstrate knowledge of the difference between Arabic

and English sentence structures.

9. Assess paragraph and essay organization and development.

10. Understand the difference between achieving a goal in

writing and in verbal interaction.
Essay III 7

B. Mental Skills:
1. Interpret how language users achieve their goals in writing
versus in verbal interaction.
2. Infer meanings of words, sentences, paragraphs and texts
from context.
3. Distinguish the different rhetorical modes in reading
different contexts.
4. Explain ideas and notions in various texts according to the
context.
5. Deduce relations between different paragraphs in essays.
6. Establish relations between different paragraphs in essays.
7. Infer meaning from texts.
8. Evaluate the relationship between content and form.
9. Make connections between Egyptian and non-Egyptian
contexts and audiences.
10. Engage in discussion about cross-cultural issues.
11. Distinguish points of similarity and dissimilarity
between modes.
12. Explore the role played by cohesion and coherence in the
essay.
C. Professional Skills:
1. Produce effective English paragraphs to produce essays.
2. Write clear and comprehensive English essays.
8 Essay III

3. Produce original essays with integrity in reaction to a

controversial issue.
4. Apply the rhetorical modes used in life.
5. Apply critical thinking skills.
6. Propose ideas about comparative activities.
7. Infer meaning from context.
8. Deduce main idea of a written text and its purpose.
9. Demonstrate comprehension through different class
activities and assignment such as summarizing, and
extracting information from texts.
10. Use various reading skills such as skimming and
scanning.
11. Analyze different aspects of an essay.
12. Produce essays based on the writing process of
brainstorming, outlining, and revising with the rhetorical
situation and mode in mind.
13. Use the dictionary to confirm/disconfirm guesses.
14. Use sources and integrate them smoothly in an essay.
15. Respond appropriately to critical reading questions.
16. Engage in conversation on familiar topics.
17. Recognizing and analyzing concessions and rebuttals.
18. Using concessions and rebuttals in essays.
Essay III 9

D. General Skills:

1. Perform class tasks that involve reading and analysis.

2. Participate in class discussions and on the forum.

3. Engage in self-assessment and peer review after writing

topic sentences.

4. Produce accurate English paragraphs and essays.

5. Express oneself clearly orally and in written work.

6. Present a clear concise point of view.

7. Present feedback clearly.

8. Ask well formulated questions.

9. Express views lucidly and convincingly.

10. Identify root cause of problems.

11. Propose positive, constructive and effective solutions.

12. Communicate properly and confidently with others in

English.
10 Essay III

This book will include the following sections:

Introduction
Chapter I. From Paragraph to Essay
1. From The Aims of Education (1929) by Alfred
North Whitehead
2. What is the Importance of Reading Nowadays?
3. Discipline in Schools and Universities
Nowadays?
4. Ralph E. Rodriguez: a paragraph that can be
developed into an essay.
Chapter II. Critical Thinking Rather than Comprehension
1. From Donald Lindsay in his book From
Darkness to Light.
2. A quotation by William Arthur Ward
3. “Science, Literature and Art” By Zaki Naguib
Mahmoud
Chapter III. Process of Reading and Writing
1. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An
American Slave: Chapter VI
2. Observation and Inference: Anonymous
Chapter IV. Research and Structure
1. Form and Content
2. Research is Vital
3. Translation Courses
Essay III 11

4. Intelligent and Kind

5. Akhenaten
6. E-Learning
7. Stars and Pop-Stars
Chapter V. WRITING an ESSAY with a Purpose?
1. What is an essay?
2. What is an argument?
3. What does structure mean? And how is an
essay structured?
a. Introduction/Context
b. Thesis
c. Conclusion
d. Five paragraphs/units
e. The components of an essay
4. What are the definitions of and differences
between Balãgha and Rhetoric”?
5. What is the rhetorical situation?
6. What are fallacies?
Chapter VI. Academic Writing and Academic
Integrity
1. Academic Integrity: What and Why?
2. A Good Lesson in Translation
3. Lecture/Talk: “A Place to Travel in” by
Edward Said
12 Essay III

4. The Integration of Sources

Chapter VII. Applications: Readings with Arguments
1. A Narrative with an: “The Weapon” by
Frederic Brown
2. An Extract from Wordsworth’s Prelude
3. “The Death of the Moth” By Virginia Woolf
4. “A Hanging” By George Orwell
5. Cultural Contexts: Egyptian Translators of
English Romantic Poetry
6. BALÃGHA OR RHETORIC?
References
Glossary

IMPORTANT
[In writing,] one needs rules…

i. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech

which you are used to seeing in print.
ii. Never use a long word when a short word will do.

iii. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

iv. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

v. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or jargon word

if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
vi. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright
barbarous.

From “Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell

Essay III 13
Chapter I
From Paragraph to Essay

This chapter will deal with:

1. From The Aims of Education (1929) by Alfred North
Whitehead
2. What is the Importance of Reading Nowadays?
3. Discipline in Schools and Universities Nowadays?
4. Ralph E. Rodriguez: a paragraph that can be developed
into an essay.

1. From The Aims of Education (1929) by

Alfred North Whitehead
Whatever be the detail with which you cram your student, the
chance of his [her] meeting in after-life exactly that detail is
almost infinitesimal; and if he [she] does meet it, he [she] will
probably have forgotten what you taught him [her] about it. The
really useful training yields a comprehension of a few principles
with a thorough grounding in the way they apply to a variety of
concrete details. In subsequent practice [wo]men will have
forgotten your particular details; but they will remember by an
unconscious common sense how to apply principles to immediate
circumstances. Your learning is useless to you till you have lost
your text-books, burnt your lecture notes, and forgotten the
minutiae which you learnt by heart for the examination. What, in
14 Essay III
the way of detail, you continually require will stick in your
memory as obvious facts like the sun and the moon; and what you
casually require can be looked up in any work or reference. The
function of a University is to enable you to shed details in favour
of principles…a mental habit. Mental cultivation is nothing else
than the satisfactory way in which the mind will function when it
is poked up into activity.
Revision: This paragraph is a group/string of sentences that
constitute a unit that makes sense. At the beginning of a paragraph,
there is a topic sentence deals with a focus and/or makes a claim .

Effective paragraphs ought to

1. have a topic sentence/a claim
2. be unified, that is each sentence progresses to the next in a
logical order.
3. be coherent, using transitions to connect sentences
4. be developed using one mode or more
5. be linked in a logical way to the one before and after it
6. be balanced in length in relation to other paragraphs

The Topic Sentence :

This is the sentence that unifies the paragraph and establishes
a link between the paragraph in the essay and the thesis or the
thesis statement in a paper. This sentence introduces the writer’s
claim (point of view) and indicates the mode that the writer will
use to develop the paragraph .
Essay III 15
The paragraph consists of three parts :
1. a claim in a topic sentence,
2. analysis and development that support the claim, and
3. a concluding sentence.

Points for Research and Discussion

1. Who is Whitehead?
2. Look up the word education in a college dictionary.
3. Look up the word education in an encyclopedia.
4. Look up the word in articles by academics on the Internet.
5. How similar or different are these definitions from the one
introduced by Whitehead?
6. What system of education is Whitehead calling for? Do
you think he is right or wrong and why?
7. How far is the system that Whitehead is calling for similar
or different from the system (s) you have been exposed to?
8. What does infinitesimal mean?
9. What does “unconscious common sense” mean?
10. Does Whitehead want the learner to lose his/her textbooks?
Why/why not?
11. What is the role of memory from Whitehead’s point of
view?
12. Do you agree or disagree with Whitehead’s point of view?
Why?
13. Define the function of a university from the point of view
of the writer.
16 Essay III
14. Define the function of a university from your point of view.
15. What are principles? How are they linked to education?
16. What is a “mental habit”?
17. What is cultivation? What is “mental cultivation”?
18. Identify a good mental habit you have and explain why it is
good.
19. Identify a bad mental habit and explain how one can get rid
of this bad habit.
20. Define education by making use of what you have read.
21. How do different systems of education affect learners
differently?
22. How is your education affecting your character?
23. How far is this effect positive or negative?
24. Do you know of a system of education that can benefit you
more than the one you are in? Explain?
25. How do studying different fields of knowledge affect the
life of the learner?
26. Who is Whitehead addressing in this passage? Who does
the “you” refer to?
27. This extract was written in 1929. Do you think what
Whitehead is saying is relevant today?
28. Identify an image in this extract, analyse it and discuss the
function of this image.
Class Discussion with be centered on :
How to write an essay about Education:
Process? Steps?
Essay III 17
Initially, we will focus on Egypt.
But about education in Egypt will we focus on?
1. Who are we as writers?
2. Who is our reader?
3. What is our purpose in addressing this reader?
Although we live in Egypt, can we write about the education
system from experience, without reading about it?
Let us ask questions that will help us to narrow our focus:
• Public education?
• Private education?
• Why the choice we make?
Another series of questions:
• Kindergarten?
• Primary?
• Secondary?
• Undergraduate education?
• Postgraduate education?
Another series of questions:
• Teaching?
• Curriculum?
• Administration?
• Relation between teaching and administration in
school and in the Ministry of Education or Ministry
of Higher Education?
18 Essay III
Another series of questions: Problems:
• Number of students in class
• Private lessons
• Professional development for teachers
• Rural areas? Girls?
• Kuttab
• Urban areas?

ENDLESS QUESTIONS ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES

• Teaching Arabic? Teaching English?
• Development of teaching specific subjects, history?
2. What is the Importance of Reading Today?
Writing an essay about any focus requires brainstorming
and producing an outline that will help you in STRUCTURING
your essay, that is in organizing your ideas. Let us work
together on answering the following important question:
What is the importance of reading in the world today?

Outline:
Introduction:
Progress cannot take place unless there is a clear well-defined
plan with accurate steps that involve developing the system of
education. Those in charge of this plan together with the scientific
community will easily confirm that reading is one of these steps.
Essay III 19
Thesis Statement
By some, reading is regarded as a boring hobby (refutation),
but reading can be the power that not only pushes the reader
forward, but also changes lives.

Topic Sentence I:
Some may identify reading as a boring hobby. Watching TV,
going to the movies or chatting on Facebook or playing games
are more entertaining.

Topic Sentence II:

Reading positively affects the brain cells and gives the reader
unlimited mental powers. Knowledge cannot be acquired
without systematic reading.

Topic Sentence III:

Reading is a weapon that can turn the human being into a well-
cultured individual and can change the character of the reader
who learns from the experiences of others.

Conclusion:
Reading might not be the hobby that everyone prefers, but
everyone must admit that reading gives the reader powers that
are unlimited.
20 Essay III
Here are samples theses.
1. Read them to see the endless possible ways in which
this question can be answered.
2. Highlight the key words and identify the controlling
ideas.
3. After doing this, write your own thesis and your own
essay.
• Lately, countries are classified by the number of readers
they have, and what citizens read. Reading is the activity
that leads to evolution and development in all fields of
knowledge (science, history, culture, etc.).
• Reading is indispensable because it allows us to acquire
knowledge, it is intriguing, and it is one of the
requirements of Islam.
• Because the mind needs to be nourished like the body,
human beings have to read. Like the body that needs
different kinds of food, the mind needs different forms
of readings: serious and fun books and reading different
sources on the Internet.
• Reading is important to the individual (knowledge, self-
confidence), to society (spreads awareness, skills that
help others and less crimes in society/readers do not
commit crimes) and to the world (better relations
between nations, increases knowledge that ends
disagreements).
• Reading is the best way to develop one’s thinking, to
bring cultures together and to spread peace.
Essay III 21
• Countries cannot develop without readers who have
studied history to learn from the past in order to improve
the present and have a better future.
• Reading makes the person cultured, and in turn society
develops and the world becomes a better place to live in.
• Books and written works spread knowledge through
time and place and the only way to acquire this
knowledge is through reading.
• Reading has three positive effects on the reader, a
physical effect (it nourishes the mind and can stop
smoking after reading about the harms of smoking for
e.g.), a psychological effect (reading books about
religion or about issues that distract the reader from the
sorrows of life) and a social effect (leads to the
acquisition of knowledge and skills that help in the job
that affect society).
• In Egypt, educators should train children to believe that
reading should be a way of life not only a hobby or a
boring activity that must be done for the school
homework.
• When a scholar or creative writer in any field writes a
good book, this book can touch a human being’s life and
change it forever. Reading biographies, history books
and fiction enrich the reader’s life.
• Nowadays, reading for the human being is like the gun
for the soldier on the battlefield because reading allows
the person to defend him/herself against mental
darkness, poverty and loneliness.
22 Essay III
• Reading helps in acquiring knowledge, in understanding
other cultures and the book can be the reader’s best
friend.
• The book is the reader’s best friend and does not want
anything in return. When the reader is in a bad mood,
the book can change his/her mood to the better. When
the reader needs information about a certain field of
knowledge, a good book can help.
• “Reading for All” was the motto for Egyptians as part of
a national campaign for many years because a nation
without readers is one without intellectuals or wise
knowledgeable citizens who can lead the country to
progress and development in all fields.
Avoid:
• Reading is the most important thing.
Reading is an activity not a thing.
• We cannot live without reading.
Do not use “we” because it refers to you and the reader.
Many people live without reading so do not exaggerate.
• Reading is very important.
Everything in the world can be regarded as important. So this
is an empty sentence.
• Reading is our life.
Do not exaggerate.
• To achieve your ambition, you have to be a good reader.
Essay III 23
Do not talk to the reader by using “you”. Here is another way
of rephrasing this sentence:
Ambitious people can achieve what they hope to accomplish
through reading.
• Reading learn us.
Never say this. This is not grammatical or logical.
The correct possibilities are:
Reading teaches us.
We learn from reading.

3. Discipline in Schools and Universities Nowadays

Discipline, which refers to politeness and good conduct, in
homes, schools and universities is a problem nowadays. Who is
responsible for the discipline of students, parents or teachers? Discuss
how problems related to the discipline of young people be solved.

Politeness: The Shared Responsibility

The environment that the child lives in plays a significant role in
the upbringing of the child. At a very young age, children are
exposed to different environments: the home, the school, the club,
the university, and homes of neighbours, relatives, and friends.
All those living in these places affect the character of the child
and determine whether the child will be polite or not. At
university and at work, the outcome of these experiences and
encounters with different human beings affect the character of the
24 Essay III
child. The first context that the child lives in is home and so his
parents and siblings affect his character. The child regards the
parents as role models and is affected by what they say and do
and how his brother and/or sister behave (s).
It is the role of parents at home, teachers at school and university
professors to discipline the student. This involves politeness, good
conduct, respect and self-respect….

To write an essay about this focus there are many possible

theses/thesis statements that can be formulated. Here are some
samples. Read and discuss them with your classmates and teacher
and write a thesis of your own with controlling ideas that you
can develop into an essay.
Sample Theses:
• Discipline is not the responsibility of either parents or teachers.
They both have to work together to raise children and young
adults in the best way possible to benefit the young and society.
It is never too late to solve this problem. Parents, teachers, and
the media need to be proactive and must work together.
• Students spend a big part of the day at school and at college. If
there is no supervision or guidance in these educational
institutions, whatever parents do will never be enough.
• In some homes, parents nowadays are responsible for the lack of
discipline of their children. Some parents cannot control their
children and others do not punish them when they make
Essay III 25
mistakes. There are others who encourage their children to
challenge their teachers and when their child at school makes a
mistake, they do not punish the child but go to school and fight
the teacher. This shows disrespect to the teacher who should be
a role model for the student.
• Discipline problems should be solved by parents, teachers, the
media and the government. Lack of discipline means lack of
control. If a parent or a teacher loses control, the child will fail to
grasp the value of discipline and chaos becomes a way of life.
• To establish discipline, teachers should not be strong,
stubborn, harsh and unfriendly. Those teachers who give
private lessons are not only harming the students but society at
large. The government should give teachers high salaries and
forbid private tutoring.
• Lack of discipline is caused by the absence of both parents and
the absence of the role model. Parents should devote time and
attention to their children and the teacher should be a role
model of diligence, conscientiousness, and patriotism.
• Parents have two roles: to love and guide the children to
good conduct. Teachers have two roles as well: to educate
students and to teach them good manners.
• Teachers should not give excuses that they do not have time to
educate and guide students to the values they need to follow.
Parents should not give excuses that they are two tired after a
day of long work to give time and energy to their children.
26 Essay III
• Both parents and teachers must pay attention to the way they
behave in order to directly and indirectly discipline the
children.
• Lack of discipline is a great challenge in the Egyptian society
at homes, in schools, at university, on the street and in the
workplace.
• Discipline problems can be solved if teachers do their job well
by being role models and by inspiring students to acquire
knowledge.
• Parents should create the appropriate environment for their
children in order to raise them well. Doing the homework is
important, but it is not the only purpose of education. The child
should learn and play as well.
• Parents and teachers are raising and educating the teachers,
doctors, engineers, and lawyers (etc.) of the future.
• Youth are the backbone of society, and they need to know
their duties, rights and responsibilities. It is the role of both the
parents and teachers to let them know what their obligations
are towards themselves, their parents and their country.
• The youth need to know how they can have a healthy heart
and mind in order to be good human beings and citizens.
• Parents and teachers ought to teach children and adolescents that
being disciplined and polite is vital in dealing with others. This
should be done through explaining the idea of respect and self-
respect.
Essay III 27
Below you will read more detailed theses that can be
inspiring. Keywords will be in bold in the first few theses.
Later, keywords will not be identified in order to give you the
chance to identify them.
• There is a lack of discipline among children because of the TV,
stress and lack of respect for education. So in order to solve
this problem, these three issues need to be addressed. TV
programs for children should not make them aggressive,
parents and teachers should not reflect the stress they suffer
from on the children and youngsters and should have patience
with children and youngsters. The development and
enhancement of the system of education in Egypt ought to
be a priority of all Egyptians.
• Discipline problems can be caused by students who think that
misbehaving and playing the role of the clown in class is
funny. Friends can have a good or a bad effect on one another.
Both parents and teachers ought to work together to teach
children what is right and what is wrong. It is the role the
parents and teachers to cooperate to help the student to
understand the value of being disciplined because this will lead
to becoming a civilized human being.
• It is the responsibility of parents to train students to behave
well and get used to good manners at a young age. Before
children go to school, parents are the only source of learning
and understanding. When children start going to school,
28 Essay III
teachers ought to endorse what parents do and make sure that
students are disciplined. The government too has a role to
play by enforcing discipline in the community. Harassment is
a serious problem that harms, not only the reputation of the
individual but of a people. Anti-harassment laws will create
safe streets and institutions.
• Discipline in class is the responsibility of the teacher and at
home it is the responsibility of the parents. If there is a lack of
discipline in class, students will not understand what is being
taught. If there is a lack of discipline at home, the children will
not be brought up as good citizens who respect one another and
respect themselves. In class teachers can solve this discipline
problem through words or action. At home parents can do the
same through reward and punishment.
• Discipline means to have regulations that lead the citizens to
exercise self-control in order to regulate the behavior of people.
When there is a lack of discipline, there must be some form of
punishment. In Egypt today, some people do not realize that being
polite does not mean being weak. Every nation has to maintain
discipline in order to control its subjects. When and if I raise a
polite boy, I am sure that he will become a respectable man.
• To solve discipline problems in Egypt, there are three factors
that work together, first, the way parents bring up their
children at home and the way parents deal with each other;
secondly, how teachers and professors handle themselves and
Essay III 29
deal with students at different stages; and thirdly what the
government and the media do to address issues of discipline
and misconduct.
• Parents should listen to their children in order to train their
children to listen to them. They teach children how to talk, what
to say, how to behave and to respect themselves and others.
Training children to say “please”, “thank you”, “sorry”, etc. when
such words are needed, parents are indirectly teaching their
children to be polite and kind. Some parents are only concerned
with what their children eat and wear. They should also be
concerned with how children eat; what children read and learn
and how they behave. They should also know who their
children’s friends and classmates are. Such acquaintances can
either be a good or a bad influence. Another important point is the
way parents treat one another in front of children. When they are
kind, pleasant, polite, and loving to one another, the children will
behave in the same way. If they are rude, aggressive, or unkind,
children will act accordingly. When it is time for a meal, if my
father is hungry, he helps my mother in order to prepare the food
quickly. This creates a spirit of cooperation in the family.
• Schools and universities are educational institutions that should
be regarded as sacred. The basis of communication in such
places is love and respect. Parents, teachers, administrators and
students should cherish and respect these places and should
respect each other in everything anyone says or does. Teachers,
30 Essay III
administrators and parents (and the media should take part as
well) should show children and young people that impoliteness
is improper and unacceptable and that unethical people are
despicable and unpopular. People anywhere do not like to deal
with rude characters. Teachers have to be role models of
politeness to children from kindergarten to university. Students
who misbehave should be punished in order to understand that
misbehaving is wrong. Students must learn to be polite with
one another and with grown-ups. At university students
misunderstand the idea of freedom and claim that they can do
as they please.
• On TV, the films, programs and serials have to introduce
impolite characters as hated and pleasant and kind people as
loved. What is aired should show that although education is
important, being polite and respectable is as important. TV
serials, which are very popular in Egypt and in fact everywhere
in the world, should focus on telling family members that
insulting children will lead the child to insult adults. Grown-
ups have to talk to children nicely in order to convey the
message that this is how respectable and civilized people talk
to one another. The problem nowadays is that the young do not
respect the old. Children have to be taught to behave and
respect the old and adults ought to respect children as well.
• The government cannot be responsible for all the problems of
the country. It has a role to play with the help of all the
Essay III 31
citizens. The government has to issue laws against private
lessons, against harassment and against lack of discipline.
Government bodies can organize a campaign that brings
together all the sectors of the community. This campaign can
work on organizing workshops that can be broadcast in the
media to address the problem of discipline in all the institutions
of society, including homes. Solving this problem is the
responsibility of everyone in society. To solve this problem,
parents, teachers, businessmen, the government all must
cooperate for the good of the individual and society. Reading
and communication are good ways to solve this problem.
Reading about the behavior of children can help.
Communication between parents and teachers on the one hand
and between adults and children on the other can help.
Communication helps in understanding and decreasing the gap
between adults and children. Communication can be face to
face, through programs on the Radio and TV and/or on the
phone if needed or through written messages or social media.

Avoid:
Wrong: Parents learn children what is right.
Correct: Parents teach children what is right.

Wrong: Parents learn children how to be polite.

Correct: Parents teach children how to be polite.
32 Essay III
4. Ralph E. Rodriguez

A Paragraph that can be Developed into an Essay

Any good, well written paragraph has a topic sentence.

Any good well written essay has a thesis/thesis statement.
Let us read the following paragraph together and determine whether
we can develop this paragraph into an essay.

In the syllabus of his course entitled “International Crime and

Detection in Film and Literature”, professor Ralph E. Rodriguez
wrote the following,

I am a firm believer in the potential, possibilities, and the

power of education. Every class you attend participates in the
production and dissemination of knowledge; in this class your
role as students will be to participate as fully as possible in that
process. You are, that is, charged in part with the responsibility
for the direction of this course. We come to the table, if you will,
as interlocutors in an on-going conversation about American
literature, cultural formations, and their social ramifications.
Consequently, your voices bear heavily on the relative success of
this conversation. We will need to proceed through this dialogue
as mature, intelligent, and responsible participants. This will be a
classroom of mutual respect in which we carefully attend to each
other’s ideas in a respectful and engaged manner. This is not to
say that we will always share one another’s beliefs, values, and
Essay III 33

opinions, but we will always push each other to substantiate our

claims and further our intellectual capabilities. Rich debate, open
dialogue, and the fruitful exchange of opinions will help to
transform the classroom and, by extension, our respective
communities, for a critical pedagogy asks us to take seriously the
transformative potential of our ideas and actions.

Why are we reading this course description?

It is important to read what professors of other courses write
in order to compare what other courses focus on and how the
course descriptions of other courses can be relevant to what we
are doing. We will also discuss what the process of writing
involves and how the ideas in this paragraph can be expanded
into an essay.

There are similarities and differences between the course you

are taking and Professor Ralph Rodriguez’s course. There are also
similarities and differences between his course and any course his
students are taking. So, the first rhetorical mode that is useful for the
discussion is comparison and contrast. What are the constants (factor
that are the same) and what are the variables (factors that cannot
apply to other courses) in what he has written? Can you think of
other rhetorical modes before reading the points in the discussion
below? If we are going to write an assessment of this course
description, how should we start and how should we proceed?
34 Essay III

ANALYSIS
The first point to make in such an assessment is to say that:
Ralph Rodriguez’s nine sentence paragraph that describes the
course “International Crime and Detection in Film and Literature”
is eloquently (well-articulated, powerful, expressive) written. This
is the claim as opposed to the point of view that the paragraph is
poorly written, inadequate, inappropriate and weak. Let me say
that this course description starts with an inspiring topic sentence
with three controlling ideas. To simplify the topic sentence,
Rodriquez could have said: I believe in education. This is
powerful enough.
This will be a sentence by sentence analysis of the course
description:

1. I am a firm believer in the potential, possibilities, and the

power of education.

An important point is to identify point in dealing with this

first sentence is to identify the keywords. What are keywords?
These are words that are significant, and they should be
understood and commented on. Since this topic sentence has three
controlling ideas, each of these ideas require analysis.
The keywords are:

Am: the verb to be

Firm
Essay III 35

Believer

Potential
Possibilities

Power

Education

This means that almost every word in the sentence is a

keyword.

The personal pronoun “I” indicates that Rodriguez is stressing

that he is giving his opinion. Since he I going to be the teacher of
this course, his students need to know what his standpoint is. As
he proceeds, he describes himself as “a firm believer.” The word
believer is generally associated with religious faith. The reader
understands that this is not a simple matter of opinion but a
“belief”, that is what he accepts as true, as a conviction. He adds
the adjective “firm” to tell the reader that this belief is strong,
stable, fixed and steady. So, what is he so definite about?
“EDUCATION!” Why do I capitalize the term? Because it should
be emphasized and there is a stress on what he believes in.
another important factor is that I agree with him. In the chapter
about process, you will read part of the autobiography of
Frederick Douglass who said, “I understood the pathway from
slavery to freedom:” Education.

The use of the verb to be: “I am” means the writer or the
speaker will discuss his identity. This means that what he will say
36 Essay III

I true under any condition.

Firm means a great or strong

Believer means someone who believes

Believes means accepts as true or to hold as one’s opinion,

position and/or belief. Belief is generally associated with religion
and faith.

These are three adjectives that describe a noun.

Potential

Possibilities

Power
Education is a noun.

The three adjectives are very important because they describe

the writer’s belief in the value of education. What interesting
about these three adjectives can be used in describing any kind of
education. They can be used if someone studies to be a teacher, an
engineer, a doctor, a lawyer, a computer scientist, a chemist, a
mathematician, anything. Let us see how:

Potential

Means to have the ability and the capacity to be … that is if

you do not have the education that allows you to have any of
these jobs, you will not get the job you want. If you do not get a
good job, you will not be able to earn a good living.
Essay III 37

Possibilities

This is an adjective in the plural, which means that having an

education will allow you to have many options. It will also allow
you to develop to attain higher positions.
Power

Means strength, control, authority. You will be able to

support yourself and others in the special field you studied.

So this sentence is a topic sentence, but it is also a thesis

statement that can be used to write, not only a paragraph but a full
essay. How? Why? Because each one in his/her specialization can
write a whole essay about how the field of knowledge he or she
studied can give this person: potential, possibilities and power in life.

2. Every class you attend participates in the production and

dissemination of knowledge; in this class your role as
students will be to participate as fully as possible in that
process.

This sentence says more about how the student can acquire
potential, possibilities and power through taking part in ever class.
In class, every student participates actively in the knowledge that
is shared by being 1. Receptive, 2. Understanding what is being
taught, 3. Asking and answering questions, 4. Digesting what is
taught and 5. Sharing what s/he learnt with members of the
family, friends, neighbours, colleagues and others. Participating in
class discussions allows interaction and a better understanding
and application of the ideas being taught.
38 Essay III

3. You are, that is, charged in part with the responsibility for
the direction of this course.

This sentence means that if the students completely rely on

the teacher, the class will not be successful. The student has a
responsibility in answering and asking questions. This interaction
creates a lively, dynamic spirit that leads to the achievement of
the different aspects of the lesson plan. If the teacher is the only
one who speaks in the class, the lesson will be boring and
uninteresting. The student can easily forget what is said.
4. We come to the table, if you will, as interlocutors in an on-
going conversation about American literature, cultural
formations, and their social ramifications.

Here the writer uses the image of sitting in class around a

table, as if the teacher and the students are having a meeting. In a
meeting, everyone must take part. Without the participation of the
members of the meeting, it will not be successful. The writer said
that the students and the teacher have “an ongoing conversation.”
This means that the conversation will not end at the end of the
class, but the students can continue the conversation with the
teacher, with one another, and/or with family and friends after
class. The writer makes a direct reference to the specific subject
of the course, that is “American literature, cultural formations,
and their social ramifications”, but this focus can be replaced by
any other. It depends on what the student is studying and what the
focus of every special class is.
Essay III 39

5. Consequently, your voices bear heavily on the relative

success of this conversation.

In this sentence, the writer uses a transitional term:

“Consequently.” This means accordingly, and/or as a result of
what was said, and/or something that logically follows in time.
Do not use transitional terms unless it is necessary. Now, what
happens as a result of the concentration, collaboration and
conversation that happens in class? The “voices” of the students
help in the “relative success of this conversation.” The term voice
is an important one. It refers to what the students say, how they
express themselves, what they say in class and how they say it.
There is an adjective that is used by the writer and it is
important: “relative”. The writer/teacher is telling the students
that their contribution to the class will be effective, but there are
other factors that will affect the absolute success of the class. It is
true they will play a role in the success of the class, but he will
play a role too.

6. We will need to proceed through this dialogue as mature,

intelligent, and responsible participants.

In the previous sentence he said that the success of the class

depends on the teacher and the student, so here he starts the
sentence by using the personal pronoun plural “WE.” The verb
tense is in the future because he is telling them what he and the
students, as members of a team, will do together. They will have a
”dialogue”, a conversation. In this conversation there are many
40 Essay III

“participants.” How are these participants going to deal with and

speak to one another? As

Mature
Intelligent

Responsible

These are three adjectives that describe how everyone will

take part in the conversation:
Being “mature” means the state of being adult, having the
ability to think carefully about a subject and developed.

Being “intelligent” means capable of reasoning, asking and

answering reasonable questions and solving problems.

Being “responsible” means able to act rationally and to be in

control.

Each of us can write a different paragraph about to act in

different situations in class using these qualities.

7. This will be a classroom of mutual respect in which we

carefully attend to each other’s ideas in a respectful and
engaged manner.

Again, this sentence is in the future tense to continue letting

the students know what will happen in the future. These are the
adjectives that the writer uses to describe how everyone will
behave in class:
“mutual respect”
Essay III 41

All the students will respect one another.

And when someone expresses a point of view, the rest of the

students will discuss the different points of view in a polite way
even if they disagree.
“respectful and engaged manner.”

The word “engaged” means in a way that shows interest, care

and concern.

Each of us can write a paragraph that addresses different

situations in a classroom when students can disagree, but answer
questions or comment on ideas in a polite manner that shows interest.
8. This is not to say that we will always share one another’s
beliefs, values, and opinions, but we will always push each
other to substantiate our claims and further our intellectual
capabilities.

The writer also foretells what might happen in class: students in

a class can come from different backgrounds, cultures and fields of
specializations. In this case they will have different “beliefs, values,
and opinions.” Students will, therefore, ask one another questions to
help one another to provide evidence and support that help one
another rather than challenge and defy one another.

In this case, each student in class can write a paragraph with a

certain problem/disagreement in mind to show how the other
students’ reactions can be friendly and helpful rather than
aggressive and antagonistic.
42 Essay III

9. Rich debate, open dialogue, and the fruitful exchange of

opinions will help to transform the classroom and, by
extension, our respective communities, for a critical
pedagogy asks us to take seriously the transformative
potential of our ideas and actions.

This is the concluding sentence of the course description that

shows the outcome of the different classes and the course as a
whole. The class will train students to have
“Rich debate,

open dialogue, and

the fruitful exchange of opinions”

and again the verb is in the future:

“will help to transform the classroom and, by extension, our

respective communities, for a critical pedagogy asks us to take
seriously the transformative potential of our ideas and actions.”

The most important key word here is “transform” and

“transformative potential.”
This means that the course will not change the student but
everyone the student knows.
What have we done with this paragraph?
• We discussed and analyzed every word/term.
• We discussed adjectives and nouns.
• We discussed ideas.
Essay III 43

• We discussed how the writer develops his ideas.

• We discussed how each word can be discussed in depth
and at length.
• We discussed how each of us as a writer can elaborate on
each term in his/her own context.
• We discussed how to transfer this paragraph into an essay.
• We discussed verb tenses and what each verb tense
indicates.
Every time I quoted from the paragraph, I used quotation
marks. We will discuss “academic integrity” later.
I wrote short sentences to show you the importance of using
full stops.
This lesson will help you to do the same with any and every
difficult paragraph you read.
Do you think it took me time and effort to produce this
lesson?
I hope the answer is YES.
YES, you must make a lot of effort in order to learn.
44 Essay III
Essay III 45

Chapter II. Critical Thinking rather

than Comprehension

This chapter will focus on:

1. From Donald Lindsay in his book From Darkness to
Light.
2. A quotation by William Arthur Ward
3. “Science, Literature and Art” By Zaki Naguib Mahmoud

As young readers, we read to understand what the writing is

telling us, that is for the purpose of comprehension. As
undergraduates and graduates, we read not only to understand, but
to “weigh and consider” as Francis Bacon tells us in his important
article “On Studies.” The first step is to read and understand
whether we agree with the writer or not and why. The second step
is to determine which mode(s) the writer (or speaker, as mentioned
earlier) uses to support an argument and to convince the reader
(audience): Narrative, Description, Classification, Comparison and
Contrast, Process, Cause and Effect and Definition.

1. From Donald Lindsay in his book From Darkness to Light

The passage and the questions and answers that follow will
help in understanding the difference between critical thinking and
comprehension:

It was only by a long and very roundabout journey that Greek

46 Essay III
science returned to western Europe. The story starts in Alexandria,
where between about 300 BC and its capture by the Moslems in
AD 642 there lived a curious mixture of races—Egyptians,
Phoenicians, Chaldaeans, Persians, Jews and Greeks—bound
together by a common interest in Greek language and ideas and
forming a vigorous [strong, dynamic] centre of learning. They
lived a comparatively uneventful life until the seventh century,
when the Arab conquests began and Moslems swiftly overran Asia
Minor, Persia, North Africa and Spain. The important fact about
these conquerors is that they respected the intellectual life of the
peoples whose lands they invaded. Islam was a tolerant religion,
and, although Alexandria ceased to have its old importance, the
Greek ideas studied there were readily accepted by the Moslem
invaders. The great age of Arab civilization had begun.

Donald Lindsay spelled Muslim as “Moslem.” Being an

Egyptian, using Arabic as the native language, I believe the better
way to spell this word with the Arabic pronunciation in mind is:
Muslim. This is why this spelling will be used throughout.

In school when you were young, the teacher would have

asked you simple comprehension questions like: How did Greek
science return to Europe?
And the result would be that you would look for the words
“Greek science”, “Europe,” and “return”. When you find them,
the answer would be:
Essay III 47

Greek science returned to Europe in a roundabout journey.

You would write this without necessarily understanding what
the roundabout way is.
Another question would be:
Where did the story start?
The answer would be:
The story started in Alexandria.
You would write this without knowing what the story is and
whether the story means that what happened is fiction or non-
fiction; whether the word story refers to an event that is the
product of the imagination or it is real hi-story that is history, an
account of a real-life event.

As an undergraduate at university, the questions are different.

The answers require that you use your mind and your experience
in answering the questions. You also do not copy from the
passage without using quotation marks, otherwise this would be
plagiarism.

Below, you will find questions that have many possible

answers. These answers were written by different students, and
they are all correct. Critical thinking questions allow for many
possible answers. This does not mean that any answer is correct,
but if the form and content are reasonable and true to life, the
answer is fine.
48 Essay III
1. “The story starts in Alexandria.” What story?
The story refers to the conflict to control Alexandria. This
important Egyptian city was ruled by the ancient Egyptians until
it was invaded by the Phoenicians and many others until the
Greeks took over. In AD 642, the Muslims “captured” Alexandria
and since then it has become a modern Muslim city.

The story is about different races living harmoniously

(amicably and in harmony) in Alexandria and having a common
goal, namely acquiring and spreading knowledge.

This is the story that of the end of the Greek civilization and
the beginning of the Muslim civilization.

The story refers to the time when the Muslim Arabs

conquered Alexandria in AD 642. Alexandria was populated by
the Greeks who had a vibrant scientific community. The Muslims
were developed The Muslim Arabs engaged with this community
and worked on the translation and development of these sciences.
When these sciences developed and were translated, they were
reintroduced to Europe and had a serious impact on the
development of science.

The story mentioned refers to a peaceful coexistence between

people of different cultures and this did not change when the Arab
civilization began.

The story of Alexandria is the story of a city that brought

Essay III 49
together people of different cultures for the sake of learning and
knowledge.

In Alexandria the journey of the first Muslims started. These

first Muslims conquered Alexandria and started spreading Islam
to North Africa. There were many different races in Alexandria at
the time and their encounter with Muslims was fruitful.

The different races living in Alexandria at the time were

interested in learning and in acquiring knowledge. The Muslims
who came to them from the Arabian Peninsula introduced them to
new ideas that helped in progress and development.

The story refers to different cultures living and mixing.

People in this case have differentiate as and beliefs, but they have
similar ethics, habit and customs. When they are together, they
enrich each other.

The story is the journey of how the Arabs helped in developing

the Greek sciences and passed them on to a Western Europe.

2. In what ways did the different races work together in

Alexandria?
The different races cooperated and created a learning
environment in Alexandria.

Many of the residents of Alexandria who used the Greek

language had different nationalities worked together on the
development of knowledge.
50 Essay III
Alexandria at that time was known as “a centre of learning”
and the Arab Muslims took part in this intellectual life.

The Arab Muslims respected the Greek culture in Alexandria

when they conquered it. This is unusual because conquerors
attack the culture of the land they conquer. The Muslims lived
with the Greeks in peace in Alex.

All the different invaders who settled in Alexandria left their

mark on this city. For example it still has a Greek theater.

The different people who lived in Alexandria worked together

peacefully for the love of knowledge.

3. Do conquering nations respect the ideas of the people

they conquer? Explain.
Invaders are after money, resources like fertile land and oil
and they, therefore, do not care about the people living in the
invaded countries.

They do not. But if the conquering nation is peaceful and

understands the value of the county that has been conquered (as
with Napoleon and the French expedition in Egypt), the people of
the conquered country may welcome the new culture.

Generally, conquering nations do not respect the belief,

culture and customs and traditions of the people/countries they
invade. In the case of the Muslim Arabs, when they invaded and
conquered Alexandria, they respected the culture of the time.
Essay III 51

Throughout history many strong countries conquered and

exploited countries that have natural resources but are weak. The
conquerors do not respect the culture of the people they
conquered. The Arab Muslims are different because they did not
force anyone to become Muslim. Muslims believe:

There is no compulsion in Islam.

The Greeks lived in Alexandria and had a life that is rich with
learning. When the Arab Muslims invaded Alexandria, they admired
the Greek accomplishments and worked on developing them.
In general, conquering nations do not respect the ideas of the
people they conquer. Invaders enforce their own ideas. When
Alexandria was invaded, the Muslims

Many people lived in Alexandria peacefully and this helped in

the development of knowledge.

Muslims respected the people they invaded and allowed them

to follow the religion they want. Muslims did not force the people
to change their life style.

4. When the writer mentions Arabs, to who does he refer?

When the writer mentions Arabs, he is refereeing to the
Muslims who lived in the Arabian Peninsula at the time.

The writer is referring to the Sahaba who were responsible for

the spreading of Islam when the Quran was revealed. They were
52 Essay III
following the instructions of Prophet Mohamed to spread the new
faith.

Arabs are tolerant people. When they spread Islam, they

respected the intellectual and cultural life of the people whose
countries they invaded. They established a great civilization.
Arabs are people living in 22 countries, speaking the Arabic
language. They are generally conservative, hospitable and
generous. They are Muslims who have created a great civilization
that respects the other. But there are also Christian Arabs.

Arabs lived in separate tribes until Islam taught them how to

establish a great civilization. Now Arabs are backward and not
untied and are therefore not progressing.

An Arab is the Muslim who lived in the Arabian Peninsula

before and after Islam was revealed to the Prophet Mohamed.

The people of the Arab Peninsula lived in tribes that fought

each other until Islam was revealed. The tribes united and started
introducing Islam to the world.

Being an Arab is not a nationality, but it is a title that has a

historical value, and that refers to an era of progress in different
fields of knowledge that led to development in the world. Arabs
now live from Morocco to Sudan to Iraq to the Emirates to Yemen.

The Arabs refers to the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula

who united the world at the time Islam was introduced to Prophet
Essay III 53
Mohamed. They are the descendants of Adam and Noah. They
speak Arabic and believe in all God’s prophets. Arabs are people
who live in the desert and are distinguished for their courage and
bravery and for defending their land and culture.

2. A Quotation by William Arthur Ward

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher
inspires.”
In this quotation, William Arthur Ward had classified teachers
into four different categories according to the way they teach.
Through his classification, he has also classified students
because there are “mediocre”, “good”, “superior” and
“inspired” and “inspiring” students.

What are the questions that are being addressed here?

• What are the qualities of a good teacher?
• How many methods of teaching are used in the
classroom?
• Which method is the best and why?
• What is the role of the teacher/student in the class?
• What is inspiration? Why is inspiration better than
telling, explaining and demonstrating?
• Who is the most important factor in the educational
process? The teacher? The student? Both?
• How far is the teacher responsible for the success of the
54 Essay III
learning process?
• As a student, was your essay “mediocre”, “good”,
“superior” and “inspired” and “inspiring”?
• Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), one of the founding
fathers of America said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me
and I remember, involve me and I learn.” How can you
link this quotation to the quotation about the teacher?

Like any job, teaching requires experience. With experience

and professional development, the teacher acquires skills that
enable him/her to play a more effective role in the life of students.
This role is particularly important because the impact of teachers
can affect the life of the student forever.

Thesis Statements:
• The teacher contributes to shaping the character and
academic standard of the student and to improving the
sense of morality in society.

• Teaching is a sacred mission that involves “inspiration”

that affects the student for life.

• I agree with Ward (not William, that is family name not

first name) that the best teacher is the one who inspires
his/her students to think, to create and to contribute in the
welfare of the community.

• The teacher plays a significant role in the life of the student

and this is why it is important to discuss and assess this
role by considering the different methods of teaching, the
qualities of an effective teacher and when can the learning
process be regarded as a success.
Essay III 55
Conclusion:
The best teacher is the one who creates the right kind of
atmosphere that allows the students to share ideas and is,
therefore, responsible for the success of the learning process.

What the teacher ought to do is to teach the student how to

learn. The teacher in this case is the leader of an orchestra.

The role of the teacher is to build the student’s mind to face

the world not simply to succeed in an exam.

Learning is student-centred not teacher centred.

The great and inspiring teacher helps the student to contribute

to society.

Sample:

What makes a difference between one teacher, and another is

the method of delivering the content of the lesson. Every teacher
has his/her own matter and that is a matter of choice.

Ward makes four claims. The first is that “The mediocre

teacher tells.” Telling simply means to transfer information to the
student. In this case, the teacher does not really love this job and
does not seed to develop. S/he does not really care whether the
student understands or not. The teacher is like a radio or recorder
that is turned on with information that the student learns off by
heart and forgets after the exam. This method of teaching will
never trigger the intelligence of the student. As a passive
56 Essay III
recipient, the student will easily and quickly forget what s/he was
told as soon as the teacher walks out of the class.

The second claim is that “The good teacher explains.” This

kind of teacher takes the content a step further. The explanation is
a description, clarification, and elucidation of what is being
taught/learnt. Some aspects of the explanation might be
remembered because the teacher will clarify points that the
student is not familiar with. Making the lesson easy and simple
does not instigate the mind of the student. The student hears the
information and understands it but does not understand the value
of this information in practical life. In this case the receiver will
take notes but does not participate in the class. Therefore, s/he
will not really learn well. Such a student can pass the exam, but
cannot deal with reality. S/he does not take part in the learning
process and will not be able to play an active role in society.

The third is claim is that “The superior teacher demonstrates.”

This teacher is superior because s/he deals with the abstract and
the concrete, the theory and the application. The evidence the
teacher provides will be memorable because the teacher will
provide proof, validation, and support for what is being said.

And finally, “The great teacher inspires.” This act of

inspiration is involves talent and devotion. The teacher is thought-
provoking, invigorating and refreshing; and the student gets
motivated to conduct further research that can be enlightening. In
Essay III 57
this case the teacher trains the student to have a voice and to
support his/her argument In this case the lesson is a moment of
light and the student goes through a transformation. This does not
only build the student’s mind but changes his/her life.
3. “Science, Literature and Art” By Zaki Naguib Mahmoud
From the book entitled The Land and People of Egypt.
Philadelphia and New York, 1959.

Who is Zaki Naguib Mahmoud?

Zaki Naguib Mahmoud (1905-1993) was an Egyptian who
graduated from the Department of Philosophy and became
Professor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University.
He was an intellectual who established a link between the Arab
tradition and modernism. Abbas Mahmoud al-Akkad called him
“The philosopher of authors and author of philosophers.”

Zaki Naguib Mahmoud wrote many books and articles in

magazines and newspapers including Al-Ahram newspaper. In the
field of philosophy, he wrote On Formal Logic, 1951; On Philosophy
of Science, 1952; Toward a Scientific Philosophy, 1959; From a
Philosophical Point of View, 1980. About the Arabs, Jābir ibn
Hayyān, 1961; Renewal of Arabic Thought, 1973; The Rational and
the Irrational in Our Intellectual Heritage, 1975; An Islamic Vision,
1987; On Modernization of Arabic Culture, 1988; An Arab Between
Two Cultures, 1990; Our Culture in Facing Contemporary Times,
1976. He wrote his autobiography in two volumes entitled The Story
58 Essay III
of a Mind and The Story of a Heart. He also wrote about
literature: With Poets, 1980; This Time and Its Culture,
1980; Shakespeare, 1943 and others.

Read this passage and answer all the questions that follow:
Literature in Egypt, indeed the whole intellectual and cultural
life, had long been in a state of stagnation [inactivity and
unproductivity] until the middle of the nineteenth century. With
the political awakening of the latter half of the 19th century,
remarkable progress in the literary life began. Political struggle
has given Egyptian literature its basic theme—Liberty. Liberty
has been, directly or indirectly, the main subject matter of modern
literature in Egypt, whatever the form and whoever the writer.

Important among the aspects of this liberating process is the

struggle against the bondage of tradition, if such tradition proved
deterrent [preventive] to progress. A strong feminist movement
during the last fifty years has been one of the big issues in the
liberating activity of the writers.

Daily papers and other periodicals have been the most popular
means of stirring the people to the new values of a new life. As a
result, the “essay” type of literature has flourished. Until very
recently, a writer in Egypt could hardly make himself known
through books alone. Even a novelist would publish his novel in
installments rather than wait till it appeared in book form.
Essay III 59

a. Zaki Naguib Mahmoud mentions the political struggle in

Egypt. What were the Egyptians struggling against at the
time?
• Egyptians were struggling against Othoman and British
rule, lack of civil rights, poverty because of aristocracy,
traditions that did not lead to progress, injustice, poor
health services and an inadequate education system.

• Egyptians were fighting against British colonialism and

against the political system at the time. It was a condition
that killed the creativity of the writers of the time. Writers
were not allowed to express their ideas and feelings freely.

• The British occupation was a great challenge for Egyptians

who resisted this occupation and struggled for freedom. On
the 23rd July 1952, the Egyptian had a revolution that led to
independence.

• Egyptians were fighting against the British and the old

traditions that hindered progress.

• The Egyptians at the time were struggling against

aristocracy and dictatorship (King Farouk), the British and
the traditions of the society.

• The Egyptians were struggling against the British

occupation of Egypt.

b. How did literature help the Egyptians in their struggle

for freedom? Give an example.
• Literature has been a great inspiration for Egyptians to
60 Essay III

resist the occupation and to claim their right for freedom.

Intellectuals and literary figures wrote works that reveal
the corruption of those in power. Such works stimulated
and motivated the people to revolt against the system.
• Literary writings “stirred the people to new values of life” in
a creative way. Writers of literature can write poems, novels
and/or plays to inspire people to lead a better life. Literary
writers criticize the ills of society in order to lead to social
reform. The poetry of Salah Jaheen, the novels of Naguib
Mahfouz and plays like “Ahwa Sada” helped the Egyptians
in many ways. The image of Sey El-Sayed, for example,
made women realize that they are not inferior to men.

• Literature increased the awareness of Egyptians that they

have the right to live in a free country. Writers were
focused on how to set the Egyptians free.

• When literature discussed the freedom of women, this

allowed readers to accept new thoughts and values.

• Literature enables writers to fight corrupt regimes without

spilling blood. Writers like Naguib Sorour, Amal Donqol,
Fouad Hadad, Ahmed Fouad Negm and others wrote
poetry that gave Egyptians hope and made them fight for
what they want.
• Foreign literature introduced Egyptian writers and readers
to ideas about freedom and encouraged women to call for
their own needs and require change in the society.
• Literature helped Egyptians in more ways than one. It
Essay III 61

helped them in their struggle for freedom by explaining

and clarifying what freedom is and pushing them to earn
their freedom.

• Literature helped in developing a sense of patriotism that

was necessary during the first part of the twentieth century
in Egypt. Literary works inspired the Egyptians to fight for
their freedom.

• When literary essays and stories were published in daily

papers, the readers were introduced to new ideas and were
stirred to have positive feelings that led to freedom.

c. The feminist movement refers to campaigns to liberate

women and improve their condition. Why was the
condition of women an obstacle to progress in Egypt in the
middle of the twentieth century?

• Women as mothers are responsible for bringing up

children. If the women are not educated, they will not be
able to raise children well.

• In Egypt in the first part of the twentieth century,

Egyptians were trying to earn their freedom from the
Othomans and the British and women were struggling to
gain their rights to play an active role in the society.
Women started to hold many positions in public life.
• Women confronted many obstacles because they did not
participate in public life. They were not allowed to take
part in politics, to acquire a good education, or to have a
decent job.
62 Essay III

• When we discuss progress, it is vital to involve women. In

the developed world, women play a vital role in the
progress of society. In Egypt, women were enslaved by
traditions and the wrong understanding of religion. Hoda
Shaarawy led the feminist movement that liberated the
women of Egypt and the Arab world.

d. Zaki Naguib Mahmoud refers to the “essay”. What is an

essay and why are essays important from the point of view
of the writer?

An essay is:

• multiple paragraphs that are joined together in one unit

about one focus.

• a series of paragraphs that support a claim/argument/thesis

by providing support and analysis.

• a writer’s point of view about a certain focus. The writer

produces an argument and provides evidence through
different modes, namely narration, description, comparison
and contrast, cause and effect, process, definition, and
classification. The choice of the modes that a writer needs
depend on the content.

• a piece of writing that communicates a certain message.

• a cluster of paragraphs that discuss varied problems in

order to suggest solutions.

From the point of view of Zaki Naguib Mahmoud, an essay is

important because
Essay III 63

• It is published in newspapers that circulate easily and

introduce readers to new and fresh ideas.

• It conveys the point of view of the reader.

• It is a piece of writing that deals with people’s lives,

culture and customs and traditions.

• Essays are important from his point of view because they

encourage and motivate readers to acquire new habits,
values and to get interested in new hobbies.
5. Why is the essay important from your point of view?
• As a genre, the essay is important for writers because
writing it does not require as much time and effort as a
novel or a play. It gives the chance to the writer to convey
his/her point of view. Because it is published in a
newspaper or a magazine, the message of the writer can be
read by a large audience and can spread quickly.
• An essay gains its importance from its limited size and the
unlimited information a reader can gain from different
essays.
An essay is important because it

• transfers points of view, knowledge and news.

• helps the reader in understanding different perspectives
about a certain controversial issue.
• can be informative.
• allows the reader to reach a new level of knowledge.
• helps the reader to understand how others think and convey
their ideas.
64 Essay III
• conveys the truth from the point of view of the writer.
• creates awareness about a writer’s perspective.
• increases awareness about a certain focus.
• creates awareness about problems, solutions, hopes and
challenges.
• directly connects the writers to the people.
Essay III 65

Chapter III. Process in Reading and Writing

This chapter will focus on:

1. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An
American Slave: Chapter VI
2. Observation and Inference

1. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American

Slave
Chapter VI
https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/narrative-of-the-life-of-
frederick-douglass-an-american-slave-chapter-vi/

My new mistress proved to be all she appeared when I first met

her at the door, — a woman of the kindest heart and finest feelings.
She had never had a slave under her control previously to myself,
and prior to her marriage she had been dependent upon her own
industry for a living. She was by trade a weaver; and by constant
application to her business, she had been in a good degree
preserved from the blighting and dehumanizing effects of slavery. I
was utterly astonished at her goodness. I scarcely knew how to
behave towards her. She was entirely unlike any other white
woman I had ever seen. I could not approach her as I was
accustomed to approach other white ladies. My early instruction
was all out of place. The crouching servility, usually so acceptable
a quality in a slave, did not answer when manifested toward her.
Her favor was not gained by it; she seemed to be disturbed by it.
66 Essay III

She did not deem it impudent or unmannerly for a slave to look her
in the face. The meanest slave was put fully at ease in her presence,
and none left without feeling better for having seen her. Her face
was made of heavenly smiles, and her voice of tranquil music.

But, alas! this kind heart had but a short time to remain such.
The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands,
and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under
the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice,
made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid
discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.
Very soon after I went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, she
very kindly commenced to teach me the A, B, C. After I had
learned this, she assisted me in learning to spell words of three or
four letters. Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out
what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me
further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as
well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read. To use his own words,
further, he said, “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell.
A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master–to do as he
is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world.
Now,” said he, “if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how
to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit
him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and
of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good,
but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and
unhappy.” These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up
sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence
Essay III 67

an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special

revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my
youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now
understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty —
to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a
grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I
understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what
I wanted, and I got it at a time when I the least expected it. Whilst
I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind
mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by
the merest accident, I had gained from my master. Though
conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out
with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble,
to learn how to read. The very decided manner with which he
spoke, and strove to impress his wife with the evil consequences
of giving me instruction, served to convince me that he was
deeply sensible of the truths he was uttering. It gave me the best
assurance that I might rely with the utmost confidence on the
results which, he said, would flow from teaching me to read.
What he most dreaded, that I most desired. What he most loved,
that I most hated. That which to him was a great evil, to be
carefully shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently
sought; and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my
learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire and
determination to learn. In learning to read, I owe almost as much
to the bitter opposition of my master, as to the kindly aid of my
mistress. I acknowledge the benefit of both.
68 Essay III

Analysis
This passage by Frederick Douglass (1817-1895), the
American slave, is from his autobiography. The extract chosen for
you is relevant because it gives the readers the steps of how he
acquired the skills to read and write. As you have seen, it was not
easy to learn to read and write because he was a slave and his
master ordered his wife to stop teaching him. Mr. Auld was
persuasive in convincing Mrs. Auld to stop helping him to learn.
What did he tell her?
• Teaching him is “unlawful, as well as unsafe”.

• “If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell.”

• “A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master–to

do as he is told to do.”

• “Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world.”

• “If you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read,

there would be no keeping him.”

• “It would forever unfit him to be a slave.”

• “He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value

to his master.”

• “As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of

harm.”

• “It would make him discontented and unhappy.”

Essay III 69

How do all these points show that Mr. Auld is intelligent?

Explain how and why.

Which points show that Mr. Auld understands the psychology

of the slave? Explain how and why.
Which points show that Mr. Auld understands the psychology
of his wife? Explain how and why.

What did Frederick Douglass understand?

Did he understand everything that Mr. Auld said?

Frederick Douglass wrote:

“These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments

within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely
new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation,
explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful
understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain.”

This quotation shows that Douglass did not understand

everything his master said. Although this is the case, he felt it was
a “revelation”. What does this mean? It was a moment of light, a
moment of illumination, a moment of understanding. He did not
understand everything he heard, but he remembered what he
heard and understood what he remembered more when he grew
up. He said that because he was young, he “struggled, but
struggled in vain.”
How many steps did he take to learn to read?

What are the first steps he took to learn how to read?

70 Essay III

What was the obstacle in the process?

How far did this obstacle affect the process of learning to

read?
What was the “revelation”?

• “the white man’s power to enslave the black man.”

• “I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom.”

• “It was just what I wanted, and I got it at a time when I the
least expected it.”

• “Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of

my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable
instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained
from my master.”

Comment on this poetic sentence:

This is also part of the “revelation.” The sentence structure is

known as a parallel structure in which the writer uses two
opposing ideas in the same sentence:

I was saddened

I was gladdened

So, there was something sad about the experience, but

something that made him every happy. EDUCATION is “the
pathway from slavery to freedom.”
Essay III 71

What created in Frederick Douglass the determination to learn

how to read being “conscious of the difficulty of learning without
a teacher”?

• “The very decided manner with which he spoke,”

• “and strove to impress his wife with the evil consequences
of giving me instruction,”

• “served to convince me that he was deeply sensible of the

truths he was uttering.”

• “It gave me the best assurance that I might rely with the
utmost confidence on the results which, he said, would
flow from teaching me to read.”
• “What he most dreaded, that I most desired. What he most
loved, that I most hated.” Parallel structure.

• “That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully

shunned, was to me a great good, to be diligently sought;”
Parallel structure.

• “and the argument which he so warmly urged, against my

learning to read, only served to inspire me with a desire
and determination to learn.” Parallel structure.
• “In learning to read, I owe almost as much to the bitter
opposition of my master, as to the kindly aid of my
mistress.”

• “I acknowledge the benefit of both.”

Conclusion: this is a serious and interesting claim/argument

72 Essay III

As learners, we must be receptive: we must learn from those

who teach us and from those who obstruct the teaching process.

Learning to Read and Write

Learning to Read involves a Process

Learning to Writing involve a Process

Each Process involves different steps for different students.

Discuss with your classmates how they learned to read and
write in Arabic and how they learned to read and write in English.
Write a paragraph about each process.

How did you start reading in Arabic?

How did you start writing in Arabic?

How did you start reading in English?

How did you start writing in English?

2. Observation and Inference

Read the following anonymous essay and discuss what the
writers do at the level of the sentence, paragraph and
structure altogether. Observe how the form and content are
inseparable. This essay, from my point of view, is one of the
most important essays you will read about writing.

Effective writing invariably develops out of thinking carefully

about a subject--preparing something intelligent and interesting to
say about it. Neither thinking nor writing is by any means
restricted to a rigid and unalterable sequence of activities. The
precise nature of either process can vary widely, depending on the
Essay III 73
writer's subject, purpose, and experience. In this chapter, we will
examine one basic and very practical procedure writers can use
to form an idea about a subject--namely, moving from observation
to inference, from paying close attention to what is around us to
making judgments about those observations. There are at least
three benefits to be gained from learning how to make this leap
from one level of thinking to another. Basing our inferences upon
solid observations helps us, first, to progress from what we are
sure we know to what we do not yet know; second, to acquire
lively, yet disciplined, habits of thinking and writing; and, third,
to strengthen our confidence that what we finally decide to say
about a subject will be both incisive and distinctively our own.

We write best when we know what we are talking about.

Perhaps the surest way to increase our knowledge of a subject is to
make observations about it. Nearly all forceful thinking and writing
are grounded in observation. We make observations when we regard
something attentively, consider it carefully, or inspect it
systematically. Observation is basic to all inquiry, from the
scientist's analysis of the data gathered in the course of an
experiment to the poet's expression of the insights emerging from an
intense personal experience. Yet most of us do not pause long
enough to observe closely. Consider, for example, the most
prominent building on campus. How carefully have we ever
observed it? How specific could we be if asked to describe it to
74 Essay III
someone who has never seen it? To know the world around us is to
observe it carefully. Observation begins with first hand acquaintance
with using our senses to extend the limits of what we know.

Observation ought to be distinguished from recognition—an

essentially passive awareness of something perceived before, as
in “that is a surf board.” Observation is a deliberate mental
activity, we probe a subject in older to discover as much as
possible about it. For example, observing a football game can be
much more than merely following the ball. So too, reading a
novel can involve a good deal more than simply keeping an eye
on the plot. Practice in observation gradually educates us to be
more selective—to know what to look for, to find the most
meaningful aspects of what is being observed, and to note the
relationships that bind the parts into the whole.

Our observations provide us with the facts from which we

draw inferences. There are different kinds of facts. Private facts
are those that can be experienced only by the individual involved
(the fact of a backache, of enjoyment in the taste of fruit, and the
like). There are also private facts, those that the world at large
has agreed to (the meaning of hour, meter, kilogram). Then
there are scientific facts, the principles of physics, mathematics,
biology, and so on--theories that are regarded as facts but are
always subject to modification. Finally, there are primary facts,
those about which there can be no disagreement (for example,
Essay III 75
the number of fingers on a hand, the number of cars parked in our
driveway). Primary facts are indisputable. If a primary fact is
something known with certainty, then it must finally have
demonstrable, observable evidence.

Any writer considering any subject has a responsibility to

provide convincing, factual evidence to support each assertion.
And a11 writers whatever their purpose or point of view,
rely on essentially three sources of knowledge: direct observation,
the data gathered from first-hand experience; recollection, the
remembrance of what was once observed; and testimony, the
reports of what others have observed or recalled. The quantity of
each observation depends on how familiar we are with the subject
at hand. First semester biology students, for example, may well
have some initial difficulty deciding exactly what to focus on
what inferences to draw as they watch a classmate dissect a frog.
But in the end careful observation should provide us with a good
dea1of manageable information: perceptions that are concrete,
limited and verifiable. If, for example, we apply these criteria to
the observations we make while conducting a laboratory
experiment, reading a textbook, or even walking down the street,
we will discover that observation suggests a pattern in our
thinking, a movement toward greater lucidity and eventually
toward converting that understanding into an idea about a subject.
76 Essay III
Out most deliberate thinking normally follows a pattern of
observation, generalization, and inference--moving from what is
present in our sense experience to what is suggested by that
experience. Based on our observations, we generalize about a
subject; that is we reduce our observations of numerous
individual instances to a single broad statement. When we
generalize, we actually infer from many particulars. To infer is to
make a statement about what is still uncertain on the basis of
what is certain. To take one example, let us suppose that we are
driving through a small coastal community in Florida. We
observe extensive damage to the roads, homes, and shops in the
town. From its location, as well as from the lingering signs of
rain and diminishing winds we infer, reasonably enough, that the
community has been hit by a hurricane. We generalize on the
basis of our observations (the weather conditions, the damage
done) and then we infer what we have not observed directly (the
hurricane). In this, and in all other instances, inference takes us
beyond what is present, beyond what can be immediately seen.

Inference is speculative thinking. It involves making

statements about what is absent based on what is present. For
example, nearly all detective work depends on moving from
observation to inference. The pattern of our own thinking in
writing is, when we are deliberate about it, quite similar to the
investigation procedures of such detectives as Sherlock Holmes.
Essay III 77
Like Holmes, we combine numerous fragmentary observations into
some sort of generalization whole from which we draw inferences
in order to arrive at an idea about the problem or subject in
question. And we should remember that the accuracy of our
inferences depends on the thoroughness of our observations.

We always run the risk of making mistakes in our thinking

when we move from observable facts to inferences drawn from
these facts; that is, from the certain to the uncertain. Accordingly,
we ought to be aware of how our own background, temperament,
interests, prejudices, and special training may influence the
inferences we draw. Consider, for example, how our political
beliefs might affect the way we think about what we have seen
while driving through an inner-city slum.

So, too, we should be sure to base our inferences on a

sufficient number of careful observations. In effect, we should
train ourselves to draw inferences that can be tested for accuracy
and thoroughness. To do so will both broaden and strengthen the
core of information created by our observations.

But how does working with observation and inferences help

us to write better? Moving from observation to inference is on
preliminary method writers can use to form an idea about a
subject. But what do we mean when we talk about having an
idea about a subject? And how, exactly, can observation and
inference help us form that idea? To have an idea about a subject
78 Essay III
is to come to a conclusion, however tentative, about it. Like a
hypothesis, an idea about a subject is a proposition--a provisional
conclusion--that must be proven. Raising the question of how we
form an idea is equivalent to asking how we reach a particular
conclusion, no matter how tentative it might be. An expository
essay introduces our tentative conclusion about a subject and
then proceeds to clarify and verify the point we want to make. If,
for example, we were writing about the energy crisis, our
principal tasks would be to explain and prove our idea about
this subject; say, that solar power offers America its most
abundant alternate source of energy for the decades ahead.
Ultimately, our expository writing does not explain a subject as
much as it explains our ideas about a subject.

Suppose that we have been asked to write an essay on the

popularity of jogging in America…. [W]e jot down a list of the
words we associate with the subject: exercise, health, satisfaction,
getting in shape, James Fixx, marathon, Frank Shorter, shorts,
sneakers, sweat suits, expenses. Thinking of the expenses of running
may well lead us to consider the extent to which big business is
involved in the sport: advertising, retail chains of specialty jogging
shops, and so on. The phrase big business, though rather vague,
might cause to pause and consider how such a simple recreational
activity has been transformed into an enormous commercial
enterprise: newsletters, magazines, books, documentaries, heavily
Essay III 79
promoted marathons, clothing and a bagful of special equipment.
These observations may lead us to think about jogging in a new way.
While we all have heard a great about the benefits of jogging,
perhaps few of us have ever considered its full costs. We gradually
arc settling on a subject: the increasing costs of running. We might
even come up quickly with a title: "The Complete Cost of Running.”

But before we can form a precise idea about the cost of

running, we must learn enough about the subject. We do this by
combining direct observations of the joggers crowding the
campus track with some basic research on what has been written
about the physical, psychological, and economic benefits and
problems of the activity. We compile testimony on the common
injuries (shin splints, torn tendons, broken ankles, and so on) as
well as the rising number of accidents involving runners (hit by
cars on poorly lit roads, attacked by dogs, and so on). We piece
together this basic information and infer that there are greater
risks to jogging than most devotees would suspect. Our own
observations and the inferences we draw from them carry us
closer to our idea--our tentative conclusion. From watching so
many people actually waddle around a track in European designer
outfits and day-glo sneakers, we infer, among other things, that
jogging is steadily becoming more enterprise than exercise. It
would now be reasonable to shape an idea that such factors as
higher prices for more "required' equipment, as well as greater
80 Essay III
risk of accident, have raised the personal cost of running to an
unprecedented level.

Our work--our responsibilities to our audience--does not stop

once we have put together an idea. We are further obligated to test
out the idea with additional observation. In this instance we would
need to follow through by analyzing and validating each of our
inferences. We can measure the quality of our inferences by
placing them on a scale ranging from solid judgment (the ability to
make reasonable decisions and to perceive relationships among
even incomplete observations) to mere opinion (the kind of
inference we have invested with nothing more than emotion or
will). Inferences based on judgment aid us not only in getting hold
of an idea but also in evaluating its soundness. As soon as we have
worked out our idea and tested it thoroughly, we will be in a much
stronger position to convince our audience of its validity.

Observation and inference are ordinarily the substance of our

intellectual lives. We encounter them constantly in our reading.
Newspapers, magazines, and books are filled with them. Most
talk, whether private or public, is routinely punctuated by them.
They are, finally, an elementary, and therefore invaluable, way to
extend and enrich our knowledge.
Essay III 81
Analysis and Critical Thinking

Form and Content

Introduction

This essay is composed of 14 paragraphs. Each paragraph has

a focus that is linked to what comes before it and what comes
after it. Drawing a diagram of the essay shows that the essay is
divided to 6 units:

I. Introduction: Paragraph 1: has a thesis with three

controlling ideas.
II. What is observation?
Paragraph 2

1. Knowledge
2. Paying attention
3. Examples
4. Inspection
5. Using the senses
Paragraph 3

1. Observation versus recognition

2. Deliberate mental activity
3. Discovery
4. Examples
5. Being selective
82 Essay III
Paragraph 4

Observation and facts

a. Private facts
b. Scientific facts
c. Primary facts
Paragraph 5

Responsibility of the writer to provide convincing, factual

evidence to support each assertion.

Three sources of knowledge:

1. Direct observation
2. Recollection
3. Testimony
4. Examples
III. Transitional sentence:
1. Observation
2. Generalization
3. Inference
Paragraph 6

What is inference?

Example

Paragraph 7

Definition of inference
Essay III 83
Example

Investigation: Sherlock Holmes

Paragraph 8

1. Making mistakes
2. Causes of these mistakes: background,
temperament, …
3. Examples
Paragraph 9

1. Inferences based on clear observations

2. Inferences that can be tested
Paragraph 10
Observation and Inference in Writing

1. Raising questions
2. Forming an idea about a subject
3. To have a CONCLUSION
4. Hypothesis
5. Proposition
6. Provisional/Tentative conclusion
7. An expository essay: not the subject or focus,
BUT our idea of it.
Paragraph 11

Popularity of jogging in America

1. Brainstorming
2. Vocabulary
84 Essay III
3. Business
4. Simple activity becoming commercial
Paragraph 12

1. Observation
2. Research
3. Data collection
4. Testimony
5. Injuries
6. Synthesis
7. Observation and inference lead to a conclusion
8. Equipment
9. Risk of accidents
10. Personal cost of running
Paragraph 13

Responsibility to the audience

1. Testing the ideas with more observations

2. Solid judgment versus opinion
3. Strong position to convince the reader
IV. Conclusion: Paragraph 14
The introduction is composed of six sentences: each sentence
has a definite purpose. What is the purpose of each sentence?

Effective writing invariably develops out of thinking

carefully about a subject--preparing something intelligent
and interesting to say about it.
Essay III 85
In the first sentence the writers (how do I know that they are
writers not one writer? This is because in the third sentence they
use the plural personal pronoun “we”) deal with the focus of the
chapter which is not simply writing, but effective writing. The
word “invariably” is an adjective with means always. The verb in
this sentence is “develops” which means grows or is the result of.
This sentence has two purposes: the first is to tell the reader who
wants to know how to write well that in order to write the writer
has to know his subject well. The second purpose is to define the
term subject: “preparing something intelligent and interesting to
say about it.” The preparation for writing requires “thinking
carefully” and if the writer does not have ideas, the only solution
is to read about the subject. It becomes clear that in order to write,
the writer has to have intelligent and interesting ideas. If not,
writing would be useful because if the ideas are not intelligent and
interesting the reader will not read them.

Neither thinking nor writing is by any means restricted

to a rigid and unalterable sequence of activities.

In the second sentence, the writers use the negative to discuss the
idea that writing and thinking share something in common. What
is it? Both are “activities”, that is they both involve action. Any
action has steps. Generally, the steps to do something involve a
sequence.
86 Essay III
a. The precise nature of either process can vary
widely, depending on the writer's subject, purpose,
and experience.
b. In this chapter, we will examine one basic and very
practical procedure writers can use to form an idea
about a subject--namely, moving from observation
to inference, from paying close attention to what is
around us to making judgments about those
observations.
c. There are at least three benefits to be gained from
learning how to make this leap from one level of
thinking to another.
d. Thesis:
Basing our inferences upon solid observations helps us,

1. first, to progress from what we are sure we know

to what we do not yet know;
2. second, to acquire lively, yet disciplined, habits
of thinking and writing; and,
3. third, to strengthen our confidence that what we
finally decide to say about a subject will be both
incisive and distinctively our own.
How many questions did the writers ask in this essay?

When are the questions asked?

What follows each question?

Which questions are interesting and valid, and which are not?
Why?

When do the writers ask rhetorical questions?

Essay III 87
The questions:

1. Consider, for example, the most prominent building on

campus. How carefully have we ever observed it? How
specific could we be if asked to describe it to someone who
has never seen it?
2. But how does working with observation and inferences
help us to write better?
3. But what do we mean when we talk about having an idea
about a subject?
4. And how, exactly, can observation and inference help us
form that idea?
88 Essay III
Essay III 89
Chapter IV. Research and Structure

This chapter will focus on how to conduct research:

1. Form and Content
2. Research is Vital
3. Translation Courses
4. Intelligent and Kind
5. Akhenaten
6. E-Learning
7. Stars and Pop-Stars

1. Form and Content

The content: The ARGUMENT: the point of view, the
position and/or standpoint of the writer. The writer introduces
the argument in the thesis/thesis statement and develops the
controlling ideas in the essay.

The form: The structure of the essay and how each paragraph
is related to the thesis/thesis statement. The form is also
concerned with language use, punctuation and organization.

An essay is a series of paragraphs (which constitutes

related sentences dealing with a single point in the essay).
Having the skill to write good paragraphs will help you
because an essay is made up of solid paragraphs related to
and linked with the use of a thesis or thesis statement.
90 Essay III
What is a thesis statement?
What is a thesis?
Having a good paragraphing system allows the reader to
follow the argument of a piece of writing. A writer can have
original ideas, but if these ideas are not presented in an
organized and clear way, the reader will lose interest. If a
writer cannot hold the attention of the readers, the writer fails
to achieve the main purpose of writing.

An essay is a string paragraphs in the same way a

paragraph is a string of sentences developing a focus, called
the claim. This claim is introduced in the form of the “topic
sentence” of the paragraph. The topic sentence introduces 1.
the point the writing wants to make and 2. controlling ideas to
support this point. This sentence can appear at the beginning
of the paragraph or elsewhere depending on how the writer
structures the paragraph. In order to have room to develop a
topic sentence, the writer needs to produce at least seven or
eight sentences. The focus, purpose, and audience, all affect
the length and complexity of paragraphs.

2. Research is Vital

Today, research is important in every field.

What is Research?
Since clearly the term research has two components, it is
necessary to initially discuss the significance of binding the prefix
Essay III 91
“re” with the root word search that can be used as a noun or verb.
The two meanings of the prefix “re” are to go back denoting
reverse direction and to do something again, anew. The question
that immediately comes to mind is: why is there a syllable in
English that refers to the repetition of an action? The list is
endless: rebuild, recreate, reenter, rename, reopen, repay,
republish, reread, revisit, to give you but a few examples. All
these involve an original, or a precedent that existed and an
essential conscious effort to take a step or steps forward to
develop the efforts of the past for a purpose.

Now, search.

The verb search means to go through, to seek, to endeavour to

find, to examine (which means to look at something carefully,
inspect and scrutinize it), and explore (to observe and discover),
which art all acts that require time, energy and effort that is both
physical and mental.

The noun search is an investigation, that is the process of

searching which indicates a purpose. A search, therefore, is a
process that occurs in time and place and requires an individual or
a team that is alert, active and accurate in order to reach results
that are correct and true.

Research is a process of discovery. It is not simply collecting

information or compiling facts and reporting them. It involves a
researcher who finds a gap in human knowledge or a point that
92 Essay III
should be re-explored and goes through systematic steps (of
observation and inference in reading, studying distinctions
between theory and practice, and keeping a record of these
observations and inferences) to collect, examine and analyse data
to eventually fill the gap. The researcher who can follow the
inductive or the deductive method, is an investigator who inquires
to find answers to his questions to reach a conclusion. Once the
researcher attains his goal, it is his/her responsibility to
communicate the findings effectively to an audience. The focus of
the re-search, together with the identity of this audience,
determines whether the efforts of the researcher will be a real
contribution to human knowledge or not. The written document
that the researcher produces, the research paper, introduces the
discovery and the evidence and support. The paper can also
include the possibility of related areas of research that require
further exploration.

A Research Paper:

1. asks a real, informed question (that involves more sub-

questions) or addresses a problem that requires a creative
solution (because previous ones have failed)
2. identifies a goal/purpose and an audience
3. shows a plan/method in answering the question or solving
the problem
4. cites and analyses the sources used
5. reaches a conclusion
Essay III 93
Write an essay with a thesis that has interesting controlling
ideas that you can develop.

AVOID:

• In the thesis: Research is important for many reasons. This

is NOT a thesis. You have to identify the reasons.
• Research can be dangerous. This is a serious claim that
requires justification. It deals with academic freedom.
• When you use a pronoun like “they”, make sure the reader
understands who you are referring to. Do not use: I, we and
you unless this is quite necessary.
• This is from an essay by a student. “Research makes you
famous”: When you are writing an academic essay, do not
talk to the reader.
“Research talks about advantages and advantages”:
research does not talk and do not write about advantages
and disadvantages. There is no subject verb agreement in
this sentence.

These are samples of introductory sentences dealing with

various ideas that can be inspiring. Which is most interesting
from your point of view? What do you agree with and what
do you disagree with?

• Research is a search again for the purpose of progress,

development and the contribution to human knowledge.
• In the past conducting research was difficult because books
were not easily accessible and famous libraries were only
available in important cities in the world. Nowadays, after
the introduction of the Internet and the world wide web,
94 Essay III
there is an information revolution because information has
become available. The availability of information,
however, can be a problem for the researcher, because with
the amount of information that is now available, the
researcher has to check the credibility of the sources to
make sure that what is used is accurate.
• In the light of the radical changes that are lately taking
place very quickly in the world, it is necessary to conduct
research in all areas. There is a difference between those
who take part in research and those who actually work in
practical life. Division of labor can help in having teams of
researchers focus on a specific argument. The result of the
research can be handed over to those who are actually
working in order to apply these findings.
• Conducting research in any field of knowledge will
definitely enrich this field. Now, the Internet has made it
possible to find information about any topic, anywhere, at
any time.
• Research means to conduct a search to discover something
that the researcher did not know about. This idea of
discovery can sometimes help the person who searches
only or it can help humanity. When Ahmed Zewail
discovered the femtosecond, he benefited humanity and
won the Nobel Prize.
• In the past, when someone needed to find information, this
person could only find information in books, newspapers
and magazines. Now the world has changed and
information has many sources. The Internet now provides
information through books, newspapers and magazines, but
also through facebook, twitter, blogs, etc.
• Because of disease, limited resources, lack of food research
is vital. The role of research in these cases is to find cures
Essay III 95
and medication for diseases to save lives, to find new
sources of energy and to produce more food. Research has
led engineers to build modern buildings for people to live
in, invade outer space, enhance the system of education
and solve problems.
Here are a variety of theses with various positions. Which
positions can you adopt and which positions are acceptable
from your point of view and which are not? Why? Notice the
difference in the length of the sentences:

• Tourism in Egypt is suffering and research in this field can

lead to the development of the country. Because Egypt has
the best and the oldest monuments in the world, a strategic
position and good weather conditions, it can get tourists
from all around the world if Egypt has a better
transportation system, if Egypt is cleaner, and if Egyptians
learn to deal with foreigners in a more civilized way. The
revenue Egypt will get can help in the development of all
fields of life, namely education, healthcare and
environmental protection.
• Research can help the scholar on the personal and the
professional levels.
• Through research the researcher is introduced to new
cultures (customs and traditions, way of life) new ideas and
knowledge (developments in different fields of
knowledge).
• Protecting the environment requires research because the
environment is important for the health of our children
who constitute the future of Egypt. A healthy mind and a
healthy body are both important.
96 Essay III
• Research should be conducted to examine the water
Egyptians are drinking because if it is polluted it will affect
our health, to explore how Egypt can use solar energy, and
to inspect the different products in the market like food,
clothes, cosmetics etc. to determine what is harmful and
what is not.
• In Egypt nowadays, we need research that will help in
having peace, stability and productivity.
• Research can be dangerous because it can reveal serious
information that those in authority would rather not reveal.
From history and films we know that many researchers
were killed. This is why many universities call for and
support academic freedom.
• Sociology is an important field of knowledge and research
in this field can help the Egyptians to solve social problems
that have been developing and growing. Both Muslims and
Christians in Egypt believe in ideas like work is important,
love your neighbor, sharing is caring, but the pressures of
life create tension and problems. Sociology can help in
finding solutions for such problems.
• Research increases knowledge in every field, it is
important for children and adults and the new methods of
conducting research are available to all.
• Teachers carry out research to find out what are the best
practices in teaching, how to develop the curriculum and
how to deal with problem students and exceptional ones.
• Research is needed to develop the Egyptian production, to
defeat disease in the field of medicine and to protect the
environment.
Essay III 97
• Research should be conducted in every field in Egypt, but
research should be funded in the medical, industrial and
agricultural fields.
• Research should be conducted in the fields of science and
technology. The humanities also deserve attention.
• Research should be carried out in education, business,
science and industry to answer difficult questions and give
hope in a better life.
Possible concluding sentences, but each must be preceded by
what can lead to such conclusions:

• Research can be the power that pushes society forward and

can actually change lives to the better.
• Research can be done collectively. This means that
teamwork can be important and useful. In Egypt, all
professionals need to acquire the skill to work well
together to benefit each other and to develop the society.
• Researchers are responsible for creativity and innovation
and for developing the society and solving its problems.
• With the development and the application of the result of
research in every field, Egypt can rise.
• Funding research is vital for the development of Egypt.
This can be a thesis or a conclusion: Research now helps
students, teachers and professionals in every field. Like any
activity the human being does, research needs experience because
the skills one acquires develop in time and with practice.

Sample

Nowadays research plays a significant role in the lives of people

98 Essay III
of all professions. In the past only academics conducted research.
At present, all fields of knowledge and all professions must
conduct research. EVIDENCE?

The parents in a family need to conduct research in order to bring

up their children well, to find the best school system that they can
afford and to protect them from anything that can harm them. The
mother should know the friends of her children, the TV programs
that the children are watching and should conduct research on
what the children should and should not watch, and she should
know what is happening in the class and at the school in general.
The father must be available to observe his son and daughter in
order to make sure that they are not misbehaving.

Teachers in schools and universities should conduct research on

the best practices in teaching, in dealing with students and
problem cases and in how the field of knowledge s/he is teaching
is developing.

Preachers in mosques and churches need to conduct research.

Government officials should conduct research.

Research should be conducted to protect the environment.

3. Translation Courses
How far do the translation courses in the translation program
at the Blended Learning Center allow you to be a good
translator?
Essay III 99
Steps to write an essay about this focus about your own
learning experience:

First: define a good translator

Definition

Second: list the translation courses at the Blended Learning

Center

Classification

Third: identify the courses that lead the student to be a good

translator.

Fourth: Write a thesis that identifies the relevant courses.

Point out if any courses are irrelevant. Why?

Comparison and Contrast

Cause and Effect

To become a good translator: Steps: Process

Thesis Statement: The courses that helped us to become good

translators are

1---------

2---------

3---------

The courses that did not help are

1---------
100 Essay III
2---------

3---------

Fifth: develop the ideas of the thesis

Sixth: discuss the courses that are not relevant. Explain why
they are not relevant.

Conclusion: a few sentences to comment on what you said in

your essay. Do you have any suggestions about new courses
that could be relevant and useful?

Sample Theses:
Studying at the Department of English Translation at the Blended
Learning Center is a challenge because students go through the 40
step trip: every one of the 40 courses we took helped us in
acquiring the skills to being a translator.

Being a good translator has to do not only with the courses, but
with the teachers and the learners as well.

Studying in the Department of English translation at the Blended

Learning Center offers courses that not only help the student to be
a good translator, but help the human being in his/her practical
life and allows the student to have a balanced life by studying
while having a job.

The courses of the Department of English translation at the

Blended Learning Center all contribute to educating the students
Essay III 101
theoretically and practically in order to become good translators
of English to Arabic and vice versa.

The reading, writing, culture, literature and linguistics courses at

the Blended Learning Center definitely help the students to be
good translators because they help students to be bilingual
through studying both the Arabic and English languages and
cultures in depth.

When I joined the Blended Learning Center, my goal was not to

be a good but an excellent translator. The courses I took can only
help if I make an effort and understand the value of the content of
every course.

The courses at the Blended Learning Center help us in becoming

good translators because these courses improve our skills in using
both English and Arabic, develop our knowledge about the Arab
and western cultures that use the English language and allow us to
practice different kinds of translation.

A good translator must be bilingual and bicultural. The courses at

the Blended Learning Center allow us to be both if we make the
effort. Studying each of the following courses: phonetics,
semantics, syntax, contrastive linguistics and discourse analysis
was useful in a different way that will be discussed later. In the
different translation courses like consecutive translation and
literary translation, I learned a lot too. Because translation has
102 Essay III
many branches (political, social, economic, legal, medical, etc.), I
still have a long way in order to really be good.

At the Blended Learning Center we take courses in Arabic,

English and culture and they all help us in becoming good
translators. Studying linguistics and Arabic and English grammar
and culture help in acquiring translation skills.

The language, culture, writing and translation courses all help

Blended Learning Center students to be good translators if they
make an effort and practice what they study.

Being a good translator requires time and effort on the part of the
student, not simply attending courses. The Blended Learning
Center courses teach students the basics, but each student has to
practice in order to be good.

In order to be good translators, students in the Blended Learning

Center study the basics of the English and Arabic languages and
linguistics (grammar, phonetics, semantics etc.) the theories of
translation and translation skills.

Becoming a good translator does not only depend on the cultural,

educational and practical courses taught at the Blended Learning
Center, but on the student’s effort and initiative as well.

Evidence and support:

The translator should be bicultural.

Essay III 103
The culture courses help me to

The grammar courses help the student to

The Arabic courses help the student to

The phonetics courses help me to

In a job interview, I make use of … to…

The different translation courses like … allow me to …

English literature courses are useful because

The morphology, syntax and semantics courses lead to …

The course that trains the students to use dictionaries is vital

because

The student is trained to translate different kinds of texts like

political, scientific and literary texts.

Mistakes from work by students:

Points you need to avoid in the future:

• You cannot write about the advantages and

disadvantages of the Blended Learning Center. This
question is asking you to be critical about the courses
you took and whether they all contribute to the goals
and objectives of the program/department: How and
why? Or why not?
• The courses at the Blended Learning Center are easy
and helpful.
104 Essay III
Yes, you can use the word “helpful”, but “easy”? No, this
is because if you say an academic course is easy, what you
are saying is negative not positive. If it is easy you will not
learn anything. An academic course has to be demanding,
challenging, enlightening, etc.

• This is not grammatical: The Blended Learning Center

learns me.
Learn is a verb which needs a subject that does the action:

I learn: this is the process of and the effort in acquiring

knowledge.

In the OEC the students learn to translate from English to

Arabic and vice versa.

She teaches me.

The course taught me…

The book taught me that…

The experience taught us that…

• The government has to develop the Blended Learning

Center.
No, this is not the role of the government to develop
Blended Learning Center. Any mention of the government
is inappropriate. If you say this it shows that you do not
know what the government should and should not do. You
also do not know who should develop the Blended Learning
Essay III 105
Center. This is the responsibility of the faculty and
administrators of Cairo University.

• You learn good things.

Do not talk to your reader/teacher by using “you”. Instead,
you should say: The student acquires good skills.

Do not use “things” because it does not mean anything.

The word “things” can refer to a table and a car and a
paper etc.

• All the courses I studied are amazing.

This is an academic essay and you do not use words like
“amazing” or incredible or absurd, etc. in an academic
essay. You need to be formal.

• Do not talk to the reader by using the personal pronoun

“you”. The reader is your teacher who will not be a
student at the Blended Learning Center and will not
take the courses you are taking, right?

4. Intelligent of Kind

“When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I

grow older, I admire kind people.” Do you admire intelligent
or kind people? Why?

Make sure you have a thesis that includes three controlling

ideas you can develop.
106 Essay III
These are samples of theses NOT models. Reading them will
help in creating an awareness that the possibilities of these are
endless. It is a good idea to try to understand the different
ways of thinking that led to writing these theses. You will
notice that some are composed of single statements. Each of
these is called a thesis statement. Some are made up of more
than one sentence. Each of these is called a thesis. Both
options are correct because what you write depends on the
claims and what you want to say.

As you read these theses and thesis statements, “weigh and

consider”, as Francis Bacon said in his excellent paragraph
“Of Studies”:

Young people choose to be strong and intelligent and they are

impressed by intelligent people because of what they achieve.
When they grow older they discover that life is too short and that
money and power are not important. What is really of significance
is kindness and human relations. What is also important is
whether people use their intelligence to help others or to gain
something personal

I admire intelligent people because they benefit themselves, their

society and can be role models for others.

Kindness is important between family members and friends in the

hospital, on the street and elsewhere.
Essay III 107
Old people should be kind to the young and the young to the old
in order to have love and peace. This is why I think kindness is
valuable.

Intelligent people are cold, harsh and boast about their cleverness.
So I admire kind people because they make me smile, listen to me
to try to understand me and make me feel better about myself.

Egyptians like kind people but they do not admire them.

Egyptians admire intelligence together with kindness. An
intelligent person who is unkind is not good.

Kind people are caring, helpful, reliable and comfortable to deal

with.

It is difficult to choose between kindness and intelligence, but if I

have to, I would choose an intelligent person because it is good to
have an intelligent friend who can criticize me to help me
develop, give me good advice when I need it, and help me to
arrive at the truth.

People who are kind but not intelligent will not be able to face
and solve problems. I prefer intelligence which has been defined
in many different ways in terms of one’s capacity to think
logically, to understand abstract ideas, to communicate, learn, and
have self awareness and self knowledge, memory and problem
solving. It can also be described as the ability to perceive or
acquire and apply knowledge and use information creatively.
108 Essay III
When I was young, I admired intelligent people, but as I started
growing older I started admiring kind people. Although many will
disagree with me, but I think that firstly, intelligence can be
acquired (through reading, studying and working hard), but not
everyone can be kind. Secondly, kind people are more
understanding and flexible than intelligent people. Thirdly, kind
people are more friendly and likeable.

Kindness actually is a gift from God and life is easier and happier
around people with such a valuable gift. You need kind people to
help and support you and to make you happy not intelligent people.

As human beings, we have preferences, but these preferences can

change as we grow old. As we grow, we learn and change. We
meet people who are kind, nervous, sweet, calm, dynamic or
intelligent. Kind people are those who are loving, caring and can
accommodate everyone. They use their feelings and emotions
rather than their minds. They forgive, do not hurt others and help
others to make them happy. Intelligent people are different. They
are rational, practical and mostly interested in science and
knowledge. They use their minds rather than their hearts. They
can seem cruel, but they are doing what they think is best. At
times the best choice can hurt. When I was young, I used to prefer
kind people. I needed love, care, affection and an atmosphere of
sharing. As I became older, I started admiring intelligent people
more because I wanted to develop, improve and acquire
Essay III 109
knowledge. Using the mind in order to make choices and to
understand the world proved to be better that using the heart. This
does not mean that I hate or even dislike kind people, but at this
stage of my life, I need intelligence rather than kindness.

5. Akhenaten

Read the passage and answer the following questions:

Akhenaten, which means “servant of the Aten”, ruled Egypt from
1352–1336 BC. At the beginning of his reign, the young pharaoh,
Amenhotep IV, worshiped the old gods, especially Amun of
Thebes and the sun god, Re. However, within a few years there
were changes. He abandoned work on a temple dedicated to Re
and began to build a new temple to worship the sun god Aten.

The Aten was never shown in human or animal form, but

represented as the sun disk with extended rays ending in hands.
Aten was the life-giving and life-sustaining power of the sun.
Unlike the old gods, Aten was worshiped in the light of day not in
a dark room deep within a temple.

Akhenaten treated his beautiful Nefertiti, which means "a

beautiful woman has come," as an equal. Her beautiful and the
famous bust [a sculpture representing a person's head, shoulders,
and upper chest] is in the National Museum in Berlin.

1. Explain in your own words why did Amenhotep IV

change his name to Akhenaten and why is this
significant?
110 Essay III
Amun/Amen/Amon, the god of the air, wind and fertility, was one
of eight gods in ancient Egypt. He was generally depicted
symbolically as a ram that stands for fertility. Ra, another god, is
the sun god of ancient Egypt. He appears on the walls of temples
in the form of a man with the head of a hawk and a sun disk on
his head. Amenhotep refers to the belief in the god
Amun/Amen/Amon. Akhenaten, however, believed in one god,
the Aten, which refers to the disk of the sun. Akhenaten changed
his name because he wanted to stress the belief in one God not
many. Some regarded him as an atheist and a madman, but
actually he is the first monotheist in ancient Egypt.

Akhenaten changed his name because he wanted his people to

worship the one God not many gods. This is a courageous step.

All the gods of ancient Egypt has the body of a human being and
the face of an animal. The Sphinx is different because he has the
body of a lion and the head of a human king. This is symbolic.
Akhenaten changed this. He believed in the sun as the one God
and accordingly he changed his name.

The change of name took place when Akhenaten stopped

worshipping old gods and worshipped Aten, the sun god. This
signifies that he changed his beliefs.
Essay III 111
2. In your own words, what is the difference between the
gods the ancient Egyptians worshiped and Aten.
The ancient Egyptians believed in many gods like the elements of
nature (air, wind, sun rivers, rain) and animals, but he believed in
the one God.

Akhenaten started worshipping the one God after centuries during

which the ancient Egyptians believed in many Gods. In so doing
he is like Prophet Ibrahim. Akhenaten, like Ibrahim, did not
worship the one God in the dark, but openly.

The sun gave the world warmth and light which to Akhenaten
seemed to represent the source of life. Worshiping the sun as the
one God, at the time, was different than worshipping animals or
the elements of nature.

Ancient Egyptians used powerful animals and worshiped them as

gods. Akhenaten believed that the sun regulated human life and
he, therefore, worshiped the sun as the one and only God.
Believing in the one God is definitely different than believing in
many gods.

3. What does treating his wife as an equal show about

Akhenaten?
This showed that Akhenaten is liberal and progressive.

It shows he respected women and regarded them as equal to men.

It implies that he did not simply love her for her beauty, but for
her mind.
112 Essay III
Women at the time were regarded as inferior. Akhenaten,
however, regarded Nefertiti as his equal.

4. Should the bust of Nefertiti remain in Berlin or return

to Egypt? How? Why?
The bust should return to Egypt because it originally belongs to the
Egyptians. Nefertiti was an Egyptian Queen and she represents an
important stage in the history of Egypt not Germany.

This is a precious and beautiful monument that belongs to the

Egyptians not the Germans and it has to come home.

It is an invaluable sculpture that was taken away during the time

of British colonialism when Egypt was not a free country. Egypt
should get back its stolen property.

The bust of Queen Nefertiti should return to Egypt by means of a

joint agreement between the governments of Egypt and Germany.

Of course, Nefertiti should be returned to Egypt.

Everyone knows that Nefertiti is an Egyptian Queen and her bust

belongs to Egypt. This bust can stay in Germany as a
representative of the genius of Egyptian art and creativity.

The bust of Nefertiti should return to Egypt through discussions

and negotiations between the Egyptian Ministries of Foreign
Affairs, Archeology and Culture with their counterparts in
Germany. Whatever was taken from Egypt at the time when
Essay III 113
Egypt was occupied should return to Egypt through international
agreements.

5. “Akhenaten the Heretic” is the title of this extract. Is

this an accurate description of Akhenaten or not?
Why?
A heretic is someone whose ideas and beliefs violate those that
are accepted at the time. By not conforming, the heretic is
regarded as mad or is not accepted by the people and is, therefore,
treated with hostility. All Prophets are regarded as heretic because
they introduced religions that were different from what the people
of their times believed in.

Heretic is a negative description and should not be used to

describe King Akhenaten who worshiped the one God.

This description is inadequate because it does not show that

Akhenaten has a new vision.

6. E-Learning

Read the passage and answer the following questions:

Two main benefits of Internet use in education are put forward.

Firstly, it is seen as more economical, in that once a course is
prepared, it can be used by large numbers of students. The savings
made by not having to employ so many teachers should be
reflected in cheaper course fees. The second benefit is
convenience; instead of having to attend classes at fixed times and
places, students are free to study when they choose and progress
114 Essay III
at their own pace. Furthermore, in studying from home there is no
need to travel to the college or university, which saves both time
and money. A student living in a small town in China, for
example, can now study a course at an American college without
the worry of travelling, accommodation or homesickness.

Despite the considerations mentioned above, classroom

learning shows no signs of being replaced by e-learning. It seems
that face-to-face contact with a teacher is still regarded as the best
way for students to make progress, despite the expense and
inconvenience involved. Not only the personal contact with a
teacher but also the support and encouragement gained from
being part of a class may be reasons for this. Membership of a
group may also create a useful spirit of competition, which
stimulates learning.

Adapted from a passage by Stephen Bailey’s book

Academic Writing: A Practical Guide for Students (2003)
1. In your own words, what are the two benefits
of e-learning from the point of view of
Stephen Bailey?
The benefits of e-learning
It is economical because once the course is prepared, it can
be used by a large number of students. There are also
savings made by not employing many teachers. These
savings should be reflected in cheaper course fees.
Essay III 115
E-learning is inexpensive because the course material is
prepared once only and is used by many students. Also the
number of teachers hired are not many.
It accommodates more students and students have more
freedom in attending classes or not.
Attending lectures is optional not obligatory.
The student can study at anytime and anywhere.
E-learning is convenient and beneficial.
It saves time.

a. Have you benefited from e-learning or not? Why?

Yes, I have because although I do not live in Egypt, I study
at Cairo University, which is a prestigious academic
institution.
E-learning helped a lot of students to get an education. It
helped me to overcome financial and time problems.
I benefited a lot from e-learning because although I do not
live in Cairo, I take the same courses that my colleagues in
Cairo are taking. I log in on the Internet and listen to the
lecture whenever I can. I go to work during the day and
study in the evening. So I can earn a living, perform the
other important tasks of being a father beside studying and
being a student.
Yes, being a mother and having a job, I benefited from e-
learning. I do not have time to join a regular university, but
e-learning is allowing me to acquire knowledge that is
useful for me, my children and work.
There is flexibility in e-learning that does not exist in
regular systems of education. Yes, I have benefited a great
deal from e-learning because as I work and gain
professional experience, I study and gain knowledge. E-
learning also saves time and money because I do not have
116 Essay III
to travel to attend classes. I listen to the lectures on the
Internet.
b. Bailey gives an example of a student living in China but
studying at an American institution. If the Chinese student
lives in China and studies in an America university, is it
the same like living in America or not? Why?
This is the same in one respect and different in another: the
Chinese student studying in an American University and
benefiting from e-learning is saving a lot of money. The
student will not pay for accommodation in America, but at
the same time, this student will not experience American
culture.
If a Chines student lives in China and is enrolled in an
American University on line, it is far better because he will
be living with his family and friends and will not suffer
from homesickness. Also s/he will not have to pay for
travelling and for accommodation.
c. Is e-learning better or face-to face learning better from
the point of view of Bailey? Why? Answer in your own
words.
From the point of view of Bailey, face-to-face learning is
better because it allows the teacher to directly support,
encourage and inspire the student. In this case,
communication is easier, there is more serious
competitiveness between the students and their learning
develops at a greater speed.
Bailey believes that regular classrooms are better than e-
learning because the relationship with the teacher and with
other students in sharing knowledge and experiences is
invaluable.
The encouraging class atmosphere is fun and is important
for the learning process.
Essay III 117
d. From your point of view, is e-learning better or face-to
face learning better from the point of view of Bailey?
Why?
From my point of view, e-learning is better because it
enables the student to study in an institution and/or country
that they are not living in. This can be more convenient for
their job and family life.
I prefer face-to-face learning because the student
encounters others with different characteristics, skills,
abilities and points of view. In such a class the student
learns to respect others and acquires the skills of working
in a team.

7. Stars and Pop Stars

Pop stars today enjoy a style of living which was once the
privilege [advantage] of royalty [members of the royal family].
Wherever they go, people turn out in thousands to greet them.
The crowds go wild trying to catch a glimpse of their smile and
their clothes. The stars ride chauffeur-driven Rolls Royces,
private airplanes and are surrounded by press agents and body
guards. Their photographs appear regularly in the press and all
their comings and goings are reported, for like royalty, they
certainly share many of the inconveniences as well. It is
dangerous for them to make unscheduled appearances in
public. They must be constantly protected from the crowds that
adore them. They are no longer private individuals, but public
property. The financial reward they receive for this sacrifice
cannot be calculated, for their rates of pay are astronomical.
By L. G. Alexander
118 Essay III
Definitions are required. Now you can do this on your own.
Find a college dictionary on-line and define these terms.
Write the two definitions and compare them.

And what is the difference between a Star and a Pop Star?

A pop star is a well-known musician who sings pop music.

Pop music is music that appeals to the public or to teen agers.

These are NOT model answers. They are samples of what

students have produced to show you the endless options of
good answers. Study the form and content of each and
compare these answers. Discuss with your friends and
classmates which you prefer and why.

1. What is the difference between a star and a pop star?

2. Alexander compares pop stars to royalty. How far is this
an appropriate image or not and why?
In my opinion, the royal community has its own sophisticated
character: the members of the royal family get the best
education and their conduct is the finest. Pop stars are
incomparable. They can be rude and uneducated.

Yes it is appropriate because like royalty pop stars have no

freedom to go to public places, people watch their every move
and want to take pictures with them.

Members of the royal family are concerned with dignity,

honour and respect. Pop stars are interested in entertaining
Essay III 119
and/or attract an audience and can do irrational and stupid
acts in order to achieve their purpose.

The comparison between pop stars and royalty is unacceptable.

Members of the royal family have to behave in a certain way
that makes them role models. They have to be proper and
correct. Pop stars smoke, drink and can wear unusual outfits to
attract attention. This is why the analogy in unacceptable.

This is not an appropriate image because the royal family has

duties and a big responsibility towards the people of the country.
The royal family is concerned with food, the economy, war and
more. Pop stars do not have to worry about all these serious
issues. They only want their next song to be a hit.

The life of pop stars can involve scandals, but members of the
royal family generally respect themselves and act honourably.

The writer uses convincing points that show that pop stars and
royalty are similar. This, however, is not the case. They have
different life styles. Pop stars act informally, but members of
the royal family have to be formal in public all the time.

3. Do you agree that “They are no longer private individuals,

but public property”? Explain.
Yes, they do not have a private life except indoors. As soon as
they go out, the people limit their freedom. Ordinary people
are free to come and go as they wish.
120 Essay III
Anyone should be allowed to lead a free life and for a human
being to become public property is unacceptable. The privacy
of the person is sacred and no one should trespass on
another’s privacy.

Yes, they are public figures and their personal lives become
the talk of the town. If they marry or get divorced this
becomes public knowledge and the people want to know all
the details.

The public behaves as if pop stars are public property but this
should not be the case. Pop stars have private lives and they
deserve to enjoy their privacy.

The price pop stars pay for fame is their lives do not become
their own. Yes, they are “public property”.

Pop stars are public figures and they pay the price of fame.

Yes, I agree because fame can be like prison. The famous

person cannot move freely because the public can bother
them. This is a serious problem.

4. Who is your favourite star and why?

Mohamed Salah is my favourite star because he is an
Egyptian who conquered the hearts of the people of the world
because he is a talented football player, a cooperative member
of any team, and above all a respectable human being.
Essay III 121
My favourite star is Ahmed Elsakka. He plays the role of the
main character in films that deal with the problems of society
in order to solve these problems. He has self-confidence and
self-respect.

Abdel-Halim Hafez is my favourite singer because although

he died in the seventies of the twentieth century, he is still
alive in the twenty first century. His patriotic songs and his
songs about love are classics.

Omar Elsherif is my favourite star. He is Egyptian but his

talent led him to global recognition.

5. Do pop stars deserve the high salaries they earn or not and
why?
Pop stars lead a hard life with limited freedom and they,
therefore, deserve their high salaries. They also work long
hours to entertain the public and to make people happy.

No. What pop stars do is entertain the public. This is not

rocket science.

In my opinion, some deserve high salaries and some do not.

Those who have talent, endanger their lives for art and serve
the community deserve high salaries. Those who do not play
exceptional roles do not.

Yes. Pop stars entertain the public and become famous. They
lose their privacy in the process.
122 Essay III
Pop stars earn more than they deserve. The money they get
should go to teachers and researchers.

Pop stars are over rated and get more than they deserve.

6. Write a title for this paragraph.

A Pop Star of your choice

Royal Pop Stars

The Life of Pop Stars

The World of Pop Stars

Pop Stars and Royalty

Royalty and/or Pop Stars

The Royalty of Pop Stars

The Royal Life of a Pop Star

Essay III 123

Chapter V. WRITING an ESSAY with

a PURPOSE

This chapter will deal with:

1. What is an essay?
2. What is an argument?
3. What does structure mean? And how is an essay
structured?
a. Introduction/Context
b. Thesis
c. Conclusion
d. Five paragraphs/units
e. The components of an essay
4. What are the definitions of and differences between
Balãgha and Rhetoric”?
5. What is the rhetorical situation?
6. What are fallacies?

The English term “essay” is borrowed from the French word

“essayer” which means to try. In the case of essay writing,
the word is used to mean to try to convince the reader of a
point of view that he/she does not agree with. Essays were
first written in the sixteenth century in France and England.
Francis Bacon is known as the father of the English essay.
We read his excellent article “Of Studies” in a previous
course. All his articles are available on the internet. In school,
124 Essay III
students write three paragraph compositions. In academic
writing, undergraduates generally write five paragraph
essays. The paragraph is then regarded as a unit and one’s
writing develops, the five paragraphs generally become five
units, possibly chapters.

1. What is an Essay?
An essay is a piece of writing that answers a real question. In
an essay the writer has a specific argument and tries to
convince the reader of this argument/point of view/position.
The reader is often regarded as hostile and difficult to
persuade. To structure and support the ARGUMENT the
writer uses these modes:

• Narrative
• Description
• Classification
• Comparison and Contrast
• Process
• Cause and Effect
• Definition

2. What is an Argument?
Aristotle introduced the Traditional Syllogism (which
logically consistent argument):

• claim/warrant (major premise)

• grounds (minor premise)
Essay III 125
In the twentieth Century Stephen Toulmin in The Uses of
Argument (1958) and An Introduction to Reasoning (1979)
introduced the following:

1. Grounds: statistics/observations/factual data

2. Claim: what you want audience to conclude
3. Warrants: reasons for believing a claim
4. Backing: provides support for warrant
5. Qualifiers: modulate the intensity of argument
6. Rebuttal: exception/what invalidates claim

What are the uses of an ARGUMENT?

1. Decision making: individual, government, institution
2. Change view points: persuasion
3. Gain practical goals: teacher, lawyer, salesman, journalist,
activist

What makes a good argument?

• No fallacy or not detectable
• Swinging? Discusses varied angles but with clear position
• Good reasoning
• Reliable evidence
• Reads the opposition/counter argue
• Uses reliable sources
• Makes a strategic concession

What is a counterargument?
• Arguments can be flawed: factually, logically and/or
morally
126 Essay III
• Refutations challenge an argument by examining its
claims, evidence and inferences:
• Establishing them as flawed through
1. Textual analysis
2. Analysis of the assumptions and claims
http://papyr.com/hypertextbooks/comp2/claims.htm

What is a Claim?
Claims (also called propositions) function as the main point, main
idea, thesis, or controlling idea of the text, specifically an essay
with an argument. Claims answer the questions readers have
about an essay:

What is the writer trying to prove? Until proven, all claims are
opinions, and claims subdivide into three categories.

• Factual Claims: In science, factual claims are called

hypotheses. These can be verified through experimentation,
observation, or reason.
• Value Claims: These express a writer's value system —
what the writer believes is good or bad, right or wrong.
• Policy Claims: These seek to change people's attitudes and
behaviors toward a particular issue.

How to Write a Good Essay

In order to write an effective essay about a controversial
issue, we must read about the different parties involved in this
controversial issue. We read in order to 1. acquire information
about the details of the problem; 2. know what we are writing
Essay III 127
about; 3. have a clear position; 4. identify the rhetorical
modes we are going to use and 5. write an outline to structure
the essay. Having a clear position requires collecting data about
the subject. This knowledge is acquired: through reading about
a focus that different writers and scholars are interested in and
have dealt with. Taking notes in the form of quotations,
summaries and paraphrases of what the scholars have written is
important because these names will be cited in the essay and a
list of these names will be arranged in alphabetical order in the
Works Cited at the end of the essay. Such quotations,
summaries and paraphrases will enrich the essay.

As the writer of the essay, you produce a thesis that

includes the argument and the controlling ideas that support the
argument. As you write, you must think about the
reader/audience and write down points to determine the
rhetorical modes that will be used. You can discuss these ideas
with others. Sharing and communicating these ideas will help
in the brainstorming step. As we said before, when we write,
we also share ideas with others, but there is a big difference
between writing and speaking. What is the difference? In
both cases we use words effectively, but writing makes
what we say documented. A piece of writing is meant to
inform, entertain and/or convince a reader. As you studied
in the previous courses, convincing someone who does not
agree with our point of view (a hostile audience), we have
128 Essay III
to make an effort. In order to persuade a reader (or a listener
for that matter), the writer must think of a solid
claim/argument that introduces a point of view and the
justification, evidence, support, in depth analysis, and
possibly a concession and/or refutation.

Title

Any essay (and paragraph) should have a title.

A title provides the reader with the point of view, focus and
argument of the writer. It helps the reader understand the
main idea better. There are some rules to write better titles:
• A title should not be a sentence.
• A title should give the point of view directly or indirectly.
• It should be creative.
• Don’t underline or use symbols or italics.
• Do not use a full stop.
• It should not mislead the reader.
• The meaning should be accurate.
• You cannot use the title of another writer.
• You should always capitalize the first letters of the words
which have a meaning in your title. Yet, “small words
such as a, an, and, the, in, with, for, to, above, an, or” are
never capitalized. Or (b) capitalize all the letters.
Essay III 129
A few questions about writing:
• What is the difference between a pa ra gr ap h, paper,
narrative, an article in a newspaper, and/or in a
book? There are many differences. One of the modes
of writing is definition. We learn to use a dictionary to
define terms and it will be useful to define each of
these terms in order to discuss the differences. But if
you learn how to write well academically, you will be
able to write well with any other purpose in mind.

• One major problem when Egyptians write in English is

native language interference. Because we speak and
write in Arabic

that has two kinds of sentences: ‫ جملة أسمية وجملة فعلية‬we

sometimes make major English grammatical mistakes
when we write English sentences without verbs. Be
careful and make good use of your grammar courses
to avoid this problem.

• What is the difference between writing and any other

activity? You need training in all cases in order to practice
and do what you would like to do well. Everything
requires time and effort.

• In your previous courses you wrote paragraph in

answer to a question. Does writing a paragraph
require revision?
130 Essay III
YES. An essay requires writing and revision as well
because as you know: writing is a process. What does
this mean? Here is a paragraph that shows that there are
steps to produce such a paragraph in order to discuss it in
class. How far does this paragraph apply to us?

How to write a Persuasive/Argument Essay?

The Writing Process

Writing a paper is hard work that takes shape in time and

through steps:

1. Generating ideas through practice, reading, brainstorming,

asking questions, free writing, outlining.

2. Writing a rough draft identifying a focus

3. Being familiar with previous research

4. Planning: to answer the research question.

5. Outlining/Structuring: Organization and consistency

6. Drafting. Reading more sources to develop content

7. Revising: “Re-Vision” – Look at the essay as a whole

(ideas and content) by focusing on:

8. Suitability to purpose, audience, logic, clarity, and context.

9. Editing examines the essay from the paragraph and

sentence level by focusing on: Paragraph structure and
Sentence structure.
Essay III 131
10. Proofreading: examines the essay from the word level
by focusing on grammar and punctuation.

Writing an argument is a skill that must be developed. In

writing a piece you are trying to persuade your audience of a
specific point of view. This is the point of view that you
believe in. A persuasive essay will be built around one main
focus. The paragraph will just include one aspect of view
point that is either for or against. You can either be in favour
of the idea or against it. You cannot discuss advantages and
disadvantages. You have to try to get the reader to believe
that you are right by giving convincing evidence and support.

Introduce the main idea in the thesis statements and topic

sentences. Support the main idea in the following sentences
(3-5 sentences). An essay should not be long. Think of a
good conclusion.

The Persuasive Essay

• The writing process involves brainstorming and

planning before you start to write.

• Take the time to plan: think about the ideas and

vocabulary you might need, and how to arrange the
ideas in a logical way before you start to write.
• In this case, the actual writing will not be difficult.

• You will need to use all the relevant modes of

writing.
132 Essay III

Once you write your essay you will need to proofread to

make sure that there are no mistakes.

More points to consider:

a. Who is this essay addressing (reader/audience)?
b. How does the content of the essay change when
the reader/audience changes?
c. What is the focus of the thesis (content)?
d. How is this focus presented (form/structure/mode)?
e. What is analysis? Why is analysis important in
developing an essay?
f. What do you need in order to write a good
essay?
g. How do you cite what you read?
h. What is evidence? Why is evidence
important in developing an essay?
What is a summary? A summary is a brief account that
contains the main points of something. You identify the most
important ideas.

3. What does structure mean?

Generally, the structure of an essay/paper refers to the form in
which the argument is introduced and the arrangement/
organization of the three controlling ideas.

In the introductory paragraph, the writer deals with

• a few statements to familiarize the reader with the issue

Essay III 133
• the context of the issue/problem he/she focuses on, the
parties involved in the controversy and leads to the
thesis/thesis statement.
• If the main argument of the writer and the three controlling
ideas can be conveyed in one sentence, this is called the
thesis statement, i.e. it is a singular statement. If the
argument is quite complex and must be written in more
than one sentence, this is known as the thesis.
A thesis statement for an essay is like a topic sentence for a
paragraph. It names the specific focus and gives the reader the
point that the essay will develop. The body consists of three
paragraphs or units, depending on how complex the issue is. Each
paragraph/unit develops a subdivision of the focus. The
conclusion, like the concluding sentence in a paragraph, is a
summary or review of the main points discussed in the essay.

An essay has unity and coherence, just as a paragraph does.

Transitional words can be used if they are meaningful. Key words
in the thesis can be repeated in the topic sentences to show the
bond between the thesis and the other paragraphs.

The Introduction/Context:

Shows clarity more than cleverness

Attracts reader’s attention

Uses a formal/academic tone

Introduces focus and background information

134 Essay III
Defines conflict/problem/terms

Controls information

Challenges a widespread assumption

Guides reader into your camp

Leads to thesis smoothly

Introduces a clear thesis

The Conclusion: pulls the threads of the argument together. In it,

the writer:

Avoids clichés and transitions like in conclusion

Answers the questions posed earlier

Poses questions for more research but not

apologetic for lack of knowledge

Leaves the reader satisfied

Recommends a course of action

Reflects on the ideas in the essay

Reaffirms thesis with final telling example

Maintains the same tone

The section that follows discusses the controlling ideas of the

thesis/thesis statement.

This is how an essay is structured: into FIVE paragraphs:

Essay III 135
I. Introduction/Context of the issue and the thesis:
controlling idea 1. controlling idea 2. and
controlling idea 3.
II. Developing controlling idea 1
III. Developing controlling idea 2
IV. Developing controlling idea 3
V. Conclusion
As a rule, the essay has three controlling ideas. Early on when we
are acquiring the skill to write, we follow the rules. Sometimes the
rule can be broken and the writer chooses to have two or four
controlling ideas. However, the writer must be conscious that he/she
is breaking the rule and must have a good radon for doing this.

A good essay focuses on an argument that is persuasive and well

structured.

These are the components of an essay:

• Introduction/Context of the focus: This section (the length

depends on the length of the entire essay and on what the
writer needs to write concerning the focus) consists of
three parts: first, what is the focus and why this focus.
Secondly, what have other different writers said about this
focus. Here, the writer can mention the question this paper
attempts to answer if this question is not known to the
reader.

Thirdly, what is the position of the writer concerning this

focus. This is stated in the thesis. This thesis identifies the
136 Essay III
argument of the writer and the controlling ideas that
support the argument. It outlines how the writer will
organize the essay.

• The body of the essay discusses the controlling ideas one

by one and in depth. Each controlling idea can be dealt
with in a number of paragraphs depending on the analysis,
development and the evidence the writer needs to provide.
• Link paragraphs with transitions; that is, show how one
paragraph is related to the next by using appropriate
transition words, phrases, or clauses.
• Prepare an outline to organize your ideas before you begin
to write.
• The concluding paragraph pulls the threads of the
argument together.

Summary

An essay is a piece of writing that has a structure. It can be several

paragraphs long. It is about one focus. However, because the focus
of an essay is complex, the writer needs more than one paragraph
to discuss his/her ideas. The writer needs to think of how to
organize the ideas into several paragraphs, one for each major
claim. The paragraphs ought to be linked together by adding an
introduction that has a thesis and a conclusion. The transitional
phrases and clauses help the reader understand the link the writer
would like to make between ideas.
Essay III 137
An essay must have a thesis that states the position of the
writer. The thesis can be one sentence (a statement not a question)
or more depending on the complexity of the argument. This thesis
links all the parts of the essay together because it has the
controlling ideas that the writer will develop. The body of the
essay has three main parts (these can be two or four depending on
the writer’s controlling ideas) that deal with the evidence and
support that the writer provides for the argument.

The following chart shows you how the parts of a

paragraph correspond to the parts of an essay.

Essay
Introduction
Context
Thesis and
Three Controlling Ideas
Body I, II, III
A. Topic sentence:
Controlling idea I
1. Support.
2. Support.
3. Support.
(Concluding Sentence)
138 Essay III
B. Topic Sentence:
Controlling idea II
1. Support.
2. Support.
3. Support.
(Concluding Sentence)

C. Topic Sentence:
Controlling idea II
1. Support.
2. Support.
3. Support.
(Concluding Sentence)
Conclusion:
Reflects on the ideas in
the essay
Answers the questions
posed earlier
Poses questions for more
research but not
apologetic for lack of
knowledge
Recommends a course of
action
Essay III 139

Paragraph
Topic sentence
A. Support, Evidence, Analysis
B. Support, Evidence, Analysis
C. Support, Evidence, Analysis
Concluding sentence

4. What are the definitions of and differences between Balãgha

and Rhetoric”?
Balãgha and Khatãba (oration) constitute
‫ علم المعاني وعلم البيان وعلم البديع‬:‫البالغة‬
‘ilm ma‘ani: the science of meanings ‫علم المعاني‬
‘ilm bayãn: the science of articulation, good style, and clarity ‫علم البيان‬
of ideas and speech
‘ilm badee‘: the science of beauty/ornamentation/ ‫علم البديع‬
invention

Rhetoric

Rhetoric for some it is a pejorative term: political speeches, empty

talk, unethical, mere rhetoric.

Rhetoric is a field of knowledge, the study of the “art” of

communicating effectively, orally and in writing; “the art of
discovering all the available means of persuasion in any given
case.” (Aristotle)

“The art, practice, and study of human communication.” (Andrea

Lunsford)
140 Essay III
In the USA writing classes in English are called Rhetoric and
Composition

Balãgha is an Arabic term and Rhetoric is western.

Compose: create, construct/structure, form by putting pieces

together, write a piece of music ‫إنشاء‬

Rhetoric, the Rhetorical Situation and the Rhetorical Modes:

Argument

5. What is the Rhetorical Situation?

The rhetorical situation addresses the following questions:

“Who is talking/writing to whom about what, how, and

why?”
1. “Who is talking/writing
2. to whom
3. about what,
4. how, and
5. why?”
The rhetorical situation is the context in which the writer or
the speaker communicates with a reader or an audience to
convince them of a certain point of view. In such a case,
there are:

1. Writer/Speaker

2. Reader/Audience

3. Purpose
Essay III 141
Down below is what the Perdue University website said
about this:
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/rhetoric
al_situation/index.html

Understanding and being able to analyze rhetorical situations can

help contribute to strong, audience-focused, and organized
writing. The PowerPoint presentation in the Media box above is
suitable for any classroom and any writing task. The resource
below explains in more detail how to analyze rhetorical situations.

Understanding Rhetoric
Writing instructors and many other professionals who study
language use the phrase “rhetorical situation.” This term refers
to any set of circumstances that involves at least one person
using some sort of communication to modify the perspective of
at least one other person. But many people are unfamiliar with
the word “rhetoric.” For many people, “rhetoric” may imply
speech that is simply persuasive. For others, “rhetoric” may
imply something more negative like “trickery” or even “lying.”
So to appreciate the benefits of understanding what rhetorical
situations are, we must first have a more complete
understanding of what rhetoric itself is.

In brief, “rhetoric” is any communication used to modify

the perspectives of others. But this is a very broad definition
that calls for more explanation….. The ancient Greek
philosopher Aristotle strongly influenced how people have
142 Essay III
traditionally viewed rhetoric. Aristotle defined rhetoric as “an
ability, in each particular case, to see the available means of
persuasion” (Aristotle Rhetoric I.1.2, Kennedy 37). Since then,
Aristotle’s definition of rhetoric has been reduced in many
situations to mean simply “persuasion.” At its best, this
simplification of rhetoric has led to a long tradition of people
associating rhetoric with politicians, lawyers, or other
occupations noted for persuasive speaking. At its worst, the
simplification of rhetoric has led people to assume that rhetoric
is merely something that manipulative people use to get what
they want (usually regardless of moral or ethical concerns).
However, over the last century or so, the academic definition
and use of “rhetoric” has evolved to include any situation in
which people consciously communicate with each other. In
brief, individual people tend to perceive and understand just
about everything differently from one another (this difference
varies to a lesser or greater degree depending on the situation,
of course). This expanded perception has led a number of more
contemporary rhetorical philosophers to suggest that rhetoric
deals with more than just persuasion. Instead of just persuasion,
rhetoric is the set of methods people use to identify with each
other—to encourage each other to understand things from one
another’s perspectives (see Burke 25). From interpersonal
relationships to international peace treaties, the capacity to
understand or modify another’s perspective is one of the most
Essay III 143
vital abilities that humans have. Hence, understanding rhetoric
in terms of “identification” helps us better communicate and
evaluate all such situations.

Works Cited
Aristotle. On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse. 2nd ed. Trans.
George A. Kennedy. New York: Oxford UP, 2007.
Burke, Kenneth. A Rhetoric of Motives. Berkeley: U of California P,
1969.
Johnson-Sheehan, Richard and Charles Paine. Writing Today. New York:
Pearson Education, 2010.

According to Aristotle, the three rhetorical appeals are logos,

pathos and ethos.

Logos appeals to the mind of the audience (reader or listener)

in the context in which the writer/speaker is building up a logical
argument.

Ethos signifies the status of the speaker/writer: he is credible,

has authority, is trustworthy and credible.

Pathos appeals to the emotions when the speaker/writer

attempts to motivate the reader/listener to action, or makes the
audience angry or sympathetic.

Rhetorical Appeals
https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/csu-fyw-rhetoric/chapter/rhetorical-
strategies-building-compelling-arguments/
144 Essay III
Rhetorical appeals refer to ethos, pathos, and logos. These are
classical Greek terms, dating back to Aristotle, who is
traditionally seen as the father of rhetoric. To be rhetorically
effective (and thus persuasive), an author must engage the
audience in a variety of compelling ways, which involves
carefully choosing how to craft his or her argument so that the
outcome, audience agreement with the argument or point, is
achieved. Aristotle defined these modes of engagement and gave
them the terms that we still use today: logos, pathos, and ethos.

Logos: Appeal to Logic

Logic. Reason. Rationality. Logos is brainy and intellectual,

cool, calm, collected, objective.

When an author relies on logos, it means that he or she is

using objective evidence to appeal to the audience. An author can
appeal to an audience’s intellect by using information that can be
checked (using multiple sources) and thorough explanations to
support key points.

Logical appeals rest on rational modes of thinking, such as

• Comparison – a comparison between one thing (with

regard to your topic) and another, similar thing to help
support your claim. It is important that the comparison is
fair and valid – the things being compared must share
significant traits of similarity.
• Cause/effect thinking – you argue that X has caused Y, or
that X is likely to cause Y to help support your claim. Be
Essay III 145
careful with the latter – it can be difficult to predict that
something “will” happen in the future.
• Deductive reasoning – starting with a broad, general
claim/example and using it to support a more specific point
or claim
• Inductive reasoning – using several specific examples or
cases to make a broad generalization
• Exemplification – use of many examples or a variety of
evidence to support a single point
• Elaboration – moving beyond just including a fact, but
explaining the significance or relevance of that fact
• Coherent thought – maintaining a well organized line of
reasoning; not repeating ideas or jumping around

Pathos: Appeal to Emotions

When an author relies on pathos, it means audience’s emotions

are addressed. An author using pathetic appeals wants the audience
to feel something: anger, pride, joy, rage, or happiness.

Pathos-based rhetorical strategies are any strategies that get

the audience to “open up” to the topic, the argument, or to the
author. Emotions can make us vulnerable, and an author can use
this vulnerability to get the audience to believe that his or her
argument is a compelling one.

Pathetic appeals might include

• Expressive descriptions of people, places, or events that

help the reader to feel or experience those events
146 Essay III
• Vivid imagery of people, places or events that help the
reader to feel like he or she is seeing those events
• Sharing personal stories that make the reader feel a
connection to, or empathy for, the person being described
• Using emotion-laden vocabulary as a way to put the
reader into that specific emotional mindset (what is the
author trying to make the audience feel? and how is he or
she doing that?)
• Using any information that will evoke an emotional
response from the audience. This could involve making
the audience feel empathy or disgust for the
person/group/event being discussed, or perhaps connection
to or rejection of the person/group/event being discussed.
When reading a text, try to locate when the author is trying to
convince the reader using emotions because, if used to excess,
pathetic appeals can indicate a lack of substance or emotional
manipulation of the audience. See the links below about fallacious
pathos for more information.

Ethos: Appeal to Values/Trust

Ethical appeals have two facets: audience values and authorial

credibility/character.

On the one hand, when an author makes an ethical appeal, the

focus is on the values or ideologies that the audience holds, for
example, patriotism, tradition, justice, equality, dignity for all
humankind, self preservation, or other specific social, religious or
philosophical values (Christian values, socialism, capitalism,
Essay III 147
feminism, etc.). These values can sometimes feel very close to
emotions, but they are felt on a social level rather than only on a
personal level. When an author evokes the values that the audience
cares about as a way to justify or support his or her argument, we
classify that as ethos. The audience will feel that the author is
making an argument that is “right” (in the sense of moral “right”-
ness, i.e., “My argument rests upon that values that matter to you.
Therefore, you should accept my argument”). This first part of the
definition of ethos, then, is focused on the audience’s values.

On the other hand, this sense of referencing what is “right” in

an ethical appeal connects to the other sense of ethos: the author.
Ethos that is centered on the author revolves around two concepts:
the credibility of the author and his or her character.

Credibility of the speaker/author is determined by his or her

knowledge and expertise in the subject at hand. For example, if
you are learning about Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, would you
rather learn from a professor of physics or a cousin who took two
science classes in high school thirty years ago? It is fair to say
that, in general, the professor of physics would have more
credibility to discuss the topic of physics. To establish his or her
credibility, an author may draw attention to who he or she is or
what kinds of experience he or she has with the topic being
discussed as an ethical appeal (i.e., “Because I have experience
with this topic – and I know my stuff! – you should trust what I
148 Essay III
am saying about this topic”). Some authors do not have to
establish their credibility because the audience already knows
who they are and that they are credible.

Character is another aspect of ethos, and it is different from

credibility because it involves personal history and even
personality traits. A person can be credible but lack character or
vice versa. For example, in politics, sometimes the most
experienced candidates – those who might be the most credible
candidates – fail to win elections because voters do not accept
their character. Politicians take pains to shape their character as
leaders who have the interests of the voters at heart. The candidate
who successfully proves to the voters (the audience) that he or she
has the type of character that they can trust is more likely to win.

Thus, ethos comes down to trust. How can the author get the
audience to trust him or her so that they will accept his or her
argument? How can the author make him or herself appear as a
credible speaker who embodies the character traits that the
audience values?

In building ethical appeals, we see authors

• Referring either directly or indirectly to the values that

matter to the intended audience (so that the audience will
trust the speaker)
• Using language, phrasing, imagery, or other writing styles
common to people who hold those values, thereby “talking
Essay III 149
the talk” of people with those values (again, so that the
audience is inclined to trust the speaker)
• Referring to their experience and/or authority with the
topic (and therefore demonstrating their credibility)
• Referring to their own character, or making an effort to
build their character in the text
When reading, you should always think about the author’s
credibility regarding the subject as well as his or her character.
Here is an example of a rhetorical move that connects with ethos:
when reading an article about abortion, the author mentions that
she has had an abortion. That is an example of an ethical move
because the author is creating credibility via anecdotal evidence
and first person narrative. In a rhetorical analysis project, it would
be up to you, the analyzer, to point out this move and associate it
with a rhetorical strategy.

When writers misuse Logos, Pathos, or Ethos, arguments can

be weakened
Above, we defined and described what logos, pathos, and
ethos are and why authors may use those strategies. Sometimes,
using a combination of logical, pathetic, and ethical appeals leads
to a sound, balanced, and persuasive argument. It is important to
understand, though, that using rhetorical appeals does not always
lead to a sound, balanced argument.

In fact, any of the appeals could be misused or overused.

When that happens, arguments can be weakened.
150 Essay III
6. What are Fallacies?
https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/csu-fyw-rhetoric/chapter/logical-fallacies/

Fallacy means false. Think of the concept of a logical fallacy

as something that makes an argument problematic, open to attack,
or weak. In academic discourse, logical fallacies are seen as
failures – as things you will want to avoid.

Thinking about fallacies can be confusing because you see

them all the time: in advertising, in conversation, in political
discourse. Fallacies are everywhere. But as students of rhetoric,
part of your job is to spend time identifying these fallacies in both
your own writing and in others’ as a way to avoid them.

Logical Fallacies – A Short List

1. Generalization – A conclusion or judgment made from

insufficient evidence. When one piece of evidence or
information is used to make a broad conclusion or statement.
2. Cherry picking – Picking and choosing only some of the
available evidence in order to present only points most
favorable to your point of view. If someone knowingly
chooses certain (favorable) pieces of information and
conveniently ignores less favorable information, then the
argument is not supported by all of the available research.
3. Straw Man – An oversimplification of an opposing
perspective so that it becomes easy to attack. This is unfair
and illogical because when one oversimplifies or inaccurately
represents an argument and refutes that oversimplified
version, one is not actually addressing the argument.
Essay III 151
4. Red Herring – Changing topics to avoid the point being
discussed. This is an argument tactic in which one attempts
to change the conversation, often by bringing up
information that is not relevant to the claim or point being
debated, in order to try to control the conversation. This
can be a way to avoid having to address or answer the
question at hand, and it harms the quality of an argument.
5. Ad Hominem – It is a personal attack rather than a way
of engaging with someone’s ideas. For example: “You are
an idiot! That’s why you’re wrong!” This type of logical
fallacy occurs when an arguer attacks or insults the person
making opposing arguments instead of attacking the ideas,
the logic, or the evidence within the opposing argument
itself. It is a personal attack rather than a way of engaging
with someone’s ideas.
6. Ad Populum – A misused reference to popularly accepted
values. For instance: “This is about freedom and
righteousness, and if you believe in those things, then you
should believe my argument.” This is an example of
misused ethos – when the author is referencing the values
that the audience cares about so that they think only about
the values and not about the content of the argument (or,
likely, the fact that there is little intellectual substance in
what is being said).
7. Either/or – – This is an argument that attempts to create a
situation of absolutes with no options in between. For
example: “Either we intervene or we are basically no better
than the Nazis.” This thinking is fallacious because it assumes
that there are only two options, with nothing in between.
8. Slippery Slope – This is a fallacy that assumes that one
thing is going to have a series of consequences or effects–
often leading to a worst-case scenario. For example: “If
we let this happen, then that will happen and then the worst
152 Essay III
possible thing will happen.” It is false reasoning because
1) it’s impossible to predict the future, 2) it is illogical to
suggest that one action will always necessarily lead to the
worst possible outcome, and 3) it assumes a very specific
chain of future events. This “if we let this happen there will
be some horrible end” is misuse of cause/effect
reasoning, often with some pathos (fear) sprinkled in.
Essay III 153
Chapter VI. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
AND ACADEMIC WRITING

This chapter will cover:

1. Academic Integrity: What and Why?
2. A Good Lesson in Translation
3. Lecture/Talk: “A Place to Travel in” by Edward Said
4. The Integration of Sources

In any writing course in an academic institution, researchers

have to understand what academic integrity is. Being aware of
this, a team of faculty members in 2012 in the Department of
English, Faculty of Arts, Cairo University worked together
(teamwork) to produce the two documents below. What is the
message that the members of this team would like to convey?
Please read the two documents and discuss these issues in class.

1. Academic Integrity: What and Why?

Academic Integrity
• is a moral code, a set of values, an ethical policy or a
culture of proper academic behavior as far as research and
scholarship are concerned.
• involves rules that are binding on both teachers and
students.
• ensures that proper credit is given to scholars and writers
for their ideas and work.
• necessitates fair evaluation of student work and prohibits
any form of bias.
154 Essay III
• fosters academic and ethical development of students and
prospective scholars.
In the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Cairo
University academic integrity is, therefore, integral to acquiring,
disseminating, and producing knowledge in an intellectual and
ethical environment that contributes to maintaining and enhancing
teaching/learning, research, scholarship, and academic publishing.

The Principles of Academic Integrity:

A General Outline:
Abiding by the rules and principles of academic integrity
means that a student is expected to:
• acknowledge and cite all use of ideas, results, and written
products of others whose citation, materials or
collaboration contribute to his/her scholarly work.
• realize that failure to uphold the principles of academic
integrity not only compromises the reputation and value of
his/her academic achievements and accomplishments, but
it also compromises the reputation of the Department as a
whole, and the value of the degrees awarded to students of
the Department.
• understand that violations of academic integrity, such as
plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, and facilitating
dishonesty reflect immoral and unethical conduct that
involves potential criminal activity punishable by law.
The following applies to all sources: written, oral or on-line
(free or paid for).
Types of Violation of Academic Integrity:
A. Plagiarism: This means the presentation of another’s ideas,
methods, research or words without proper acknowledgment.
Essay III 155
This occurs when failing to cite a reference results in passing
off another’s work as one’s own. It includes close
paraphrasing as well as lifting sentences verbatim without
acknowledgment of the source. The negative effects of
plagiarism will be the same regardless of intent and a
plagiarist deserves a serious penalty.
Please note that:
• As few as using three words from someone else’s work
qualifies as plagiarism.
• You plagiarize an idea by adopting it as your own. This
idea could be a thesis sentence, an argument, a method that
somebody else came up with. Lifting and using this idea as
your own is plagiarism.
• Even with statements, ideas and methodologies that are in
common use, acknowledging them is vital.
B. Cheating: This is the use of inappropriate and
unacknowledged materials, information, sources (hard or
soft), or study aids in any academic exercise. The use of
books, notes, and conversation with others is restricted or
forbidden in certain academic contexts. Their use in these
cases constitutes cheating.
Cheating includes submitting papers, research results,
analyses, statistics, etc. as one's own work although they
are prepared by others. Copying another student's work or
answers in an assignment is cheating. Similarly, students
must not request others (including commercial term paper
companies) to conduct research or prepare any work for
them. Cheating also involves the submission of an
assignment or part(s) of an assignment to satisfy the
requirements of more than one course.
156 Essay III
C. Facilitating Academic Dishonesty: The facilitation of
academic dishonesty takes place when students, knowingly
or negligently, allow or assist another student to use their
work (written assignments, research papers, end of term
projects) or submit it. Aiding others in academic dishonesty
is a violation of academic integrity. Such students are as
guilty of intellectual dishonesty as the student who receives
the material even though they themselves may not benefit
academically from this dishonesty.

Procedures and Penalties:

1. Undergraduates: Plagiarism is explained and ways to
avoid plagiarism are discussed at the beginning of every
term. A warning, which includes an explanation of the
penalty of plagiarism/cheating, is given to all students. In
the case of the first assignment: if students plagiarize after
the warning, they lose the mark of this particular
assignment. At this point, students can make up for grade
loss through the mark of oral work, participation,
attendance, etc. The policy is reiterated in class as a second
warning. In the case of the second assignment: if students
plagiarize, whether or not they plagiarized before, they lose
the mark and cannot make up for this as they will have
received the two general warnings in class. Repeated acts
of plagiarism will result in the referral of the student to a
disciplinary committee which may decide to suspend the
student for a year or dismiss him/her from the program.
2. Graduates: When a course teacher discovers an instance
of plagiarism, this should be reported to the Academic
Advisor and the Head of Department. The student will be
referred to a disciplinary committee and notified of the
date of the meeting. Members of the hearing committee
(Department Head, Academic Advisor, the reporting
‫‪Essay III‬‬ ‫‪157‬‬
‫‪course teacher, and two Professors) meet with the student‬‬
‫‪who is given the chance for defense. The members of the‬‬
‫‪disciplinary committee determine the appropriate decision.‬‬
‫‪The student is notified and receives a written‬‬
‫‪report/warning (and most likely loses the grade of the‬‬
‫‪given assignment). Second time plagiarism results in‬‬
‫‪failing the course. Third time plagiarism results in‬‬
‫‪dismissal from the program.‬‬
‫‪http://edcu.edu.eg/academic-integrity.php‬‬
‫النزاهة األكاديمية‪ :‬ماهيتها وأهميتها‬
‫النزاهة األكاديمية‬
‫‪ .1‬هي ميثاق أخالقي ومجموعة من القيم واآلليات التي تهدف إلى خلق ثقافة‬
‫وسلوك الئقين فيما يختص بأمور البحث العلمي واألكاديمي‪.‬‬

‫‪ .2‬تتضمن قواعد أساسية يجب على كل من الطالب واألستاذ االلتزام بها‪.‬‬

‫‪ .3‬هي اعتراف بالملكية الفكرية للباحثين والكتّاب لما ينسب إليهم من أفكار أو‬
‫أبحاث أو أعمال منشورة‪.‬‬

‫‪ .4‬هي ضمانة التقييم العادل لما يقوم به الطالب من أعمال وصمام أمان ضد‬
‫أشكال التحيز والتمييز بين الطالب‪.‬‬

‫‪ .5‬تحفز التطور األكاديمي واألخالقي للطالب والباحثين في مستهل العمل‬

‫األكاديمي‪.‬‬

‫وعليه فقسم اللغة اإلنجليزية وآدابها في كلية اآلداب جامعة القاهرة يعتبر النزاهة‬
‫األكاديمية عنص ار ال غنى عنه في خلق المعرفة ونشرها وتطبيقه في بيئة ثقافية‬
‫وأخالقية تسهم في المحافظة على أسس التعليم‪/‬التعلم والبحث والدراسة األكاديمية‬
‫والنشر العلمي وتنميتها‪.‬‬
‫‪158‬‬ ‫‪Essay III‬‬

‫مبادئ النزاهة األكاديمية‪:‬‬

‫الخطوط العريضة‪:‬‬
‫يعني االلتزام بقواعد النزاهة األكاديمية ومبادئها أن يكون على الطالب أن‪:‬‬
‫• يستشهد بجميع ما استخدمه من أفكار أو نتائج أو أعمال مكتوبة منسوبة‬
‫آلخرين ممن يكون قد استفاد من اقتباسات من أبحاثهم المنشورة أو غير‬
‫المنشورة أو مادتهم العلمية أو أي شكل آخر من أشكال المشاركة في عمله‬
‫البحثي ويوثقها توثيقا علميا دقيقا‪.‬‬

‫• يدرك أن اإلخالل باتباع مبادئ النزاهة األكاديمية ال يسيء فقط إلى قيمة‬
‫انتاجه األكاديمي وسمعته العلمية بل يسيء أيضا إلى سمعة قسم اللغة‬
‫اإلنجليزية وآدابها وإلى قيمة الدرجات العلمية التي يمنحها القسم لطالبه ككل‪.‬‬

‫يتفهم أن جميع أشكال خرق النزاهة األكاديمية من سرقة علمية أو غش أو‬

‫اختالق (فبركة) معلومات أو تسهيل أي من هذه األفعال هي صنوف من السلوك‬
‫غير األخالقي وممارسات تدخل في نطاق الجريمة وقد تعرض من يقترفها‬
‫للمساءلة القانونية‪.‬‬

‫خرق النزاهة األكاديمية‪:‬‬

‫السرقة العلمية‪:‬‬
‫تعني استخدام أفكار اآلخرين أو مناهجهم أو أبحاثهم أو ألفاظهم أو عرضها دون‬
‫استشهاد الئق‪ .‬وهو ما يحدث حين يهمل الباحث توثيق هذه األعمال واألفكار األصلية‬
‫مما ينجم عنه أن يفهم القارئ أن ما ذكر في بحثه هو من بنات أفكاره هو نفسه وليس‬
‫نتيجة دراسة شخص آخر‪ .‬وتحدث السرقة العلمية سواء أعاد الباحث صياغة ما كتبه‬
‫أو ذكره شخص آخر أو استخدم ألفاظه حرفيا دون ذكر للمرجع المستخدم‪ .‬تعتبر نتائج‬
‫السرقة العلمية واحدة في جميع األحوال بغض النظر عن نية الباحث محل المساءلة‬
‫وهي جريمة تستحق عقابا حازما‪.‬‬
‫‪Essay III‬‬ ‫‪159‬‬

‫رجاء مالحظة أن‪:‬‬

‫• مجرد استخدام الباحث لثالثة كلمات من أعمال الغير دون استشهاد يدخله في‬
‫نطاق السرقة العلمية‪.‬‬

‫• استخدام فكرة منسوبة للغير باعتبارها من أفكار الطالب‪/‬الباحث هو نوع من‬

‫السرقة العلمية‪ .‬وقد تكون هذه الفكرة هي جملة أطروحة في مقال ورقي أو علي‬
‫شبكة المعلومات أو حجة أو منهج قام شخص آخر قبله باكتشافه أو طرحه‪.‬‬
‫استخدام هذه الفكرة باعتبارها منسوبة للطالب‪/‬الباحث هو لسرقة علمية‪.‬‬

‫• حتى في حالة استخدام مقوالت أو أفكار أو مناهج شائعة ومعلومة يكون‬

‫التوثيق مسألة في غاية األهمية‪.‬‬

‫الغش‪:‬‬
‫يتمثل الغش فى استخدام مواد ومعلومات أو كتب دراسية مساعدة‪ ،‬سواء كانت‬
‫ورقية أو رقمية‪ ،‬دون اإلشارة الصحيحة والدقيقة للمصدر الذى أخذت منه فى المعلومات‬
‫واالفكار‪ .‬وهناك بعض التدريبات األكاديمية التى يمنع فيها استخدام الكتب والمذكرات أو‬
‫تبادل الحديث مع اآلخرين‪ .‬ولو استخدمها الطالب فى تلك الحاالت‪ ،‬يحسب ذلك غشاً‪.‬‬
‫كما يتضمن الغش تقديم أبحاث أو نتائج بحث أو تحليالت أو إحصائيات إلخ‪ ،‬كما لو‬
‫كانت نتاج عمل الطالب بينما هى فى الحقيقة قد قام بها آخرون‪ .‬كما أن نقل إنتاج‬
‫قام به طالب آخر أو نقل إجابات طالب آخر فى أحد التمرينات المطلوبة يعتبر غشاً‪.‬‬
‫وكذلك فال ينبغى أن يطلب الطالب من آخرين (بما فى ذلك المكاتب التى تقوم بكتابة‬
‫األبحاث مقابل أجر) أن يجروا األبحاث بدالً منهم‪ .‬ويعتبر تقديم نفس العمل أو جزء‬
‫منه فى متطلبات أكثر من مقرر علمى أحد أشكال الغش‪.‬‬

‫تسهيل الغش األكاديمى‪:‬‬

‫يعد الطالب مخالفاً لقواعد النزاهة األكاديمية لو هو سمح لغيره (سواء بعلمه أو‬
‫فعن إهمال من جانبه) أن يستخدم أبحاثه‪ ،‬أو لو ساعد الطالب طالباً آخ اًر فى أمر من‬
‫أمور الغش‪ .‬يعتبر من يفعل ذلك مخالفاً لقواعد النزاهة األكاديمية مثله مثل الطالب‬
‫‪160‬‬ ‫‪Essay III‬‬

‫الذى يستخدم المادة التى أخذها منه‪ ،‬حتى وإن كان ذلك ال يعود على الطالب صاحب‬
‫البحث بأية فائدة‪.‬‬
‫إجراءات وعقوبات‪:‬‬
‫مرحلة الليسانس‪:‬‬
‫يتم شرح مفهوم السرقة العلمية وطرق تجنبها وعقوباتها فى بداية كل فصل‬
‫دراسى‪ .‬ويحذر الطالب منها‪ .‬ولو اقترف طالب سرقة علمية فى أول تدريب فيحصل‬
‫على درجة صفر فى هذا التدريب‪ .‬ثم يعاد شرح المفهوم والعقوبات مرة أخرى‪ .‬وفي‬
‫هذه المرحلة يمكن للطالب تحسين درجة أعمال السنة لو أنهم حصلوا على درجة جيدة‬
‫فى المتطلبات الشفوية والمشاركة فى المناقشات فى الفصل وغيرها‪ .‬لو حدث واقترف‬
‫طالب سرقة علمية فى التدريب الثانى (بغض النظر عما إذا كان نفس الطالب قد‬
‫اقترف السرقة العلمية فى التدريب األول) فيحصل الطالب على درجة صفر فى درجة‬
‫المتطلبات التحريرية‪ .‬ولو تكررت السرقة العلمية من نفس الطالب أكثر من مرة‪ ،‬يحال‬
‫إلى لجنة تأديبية قد تقرر وقف قيد الطالب لمدة عام أو فصله من البرنامج الدراسى‪.‬‬
‫مرحلة الدراسات العليا‪:‬‬
‫إذا اكتشف المدرس حالة من حاالت السرقة العلمية يبلغ كالً من المشرف‬
‫األكاديمى للطالب ورئيس القسم‪ ،‬ثم يحول الطالب للجنة تأديبية (مكونة من رئيس‬
‫القسم والمشرف األكاديمى للطالب والمدرس الذى حدثت الواقعة فى مقرره وأستاذين‬
‫بالقسم) التى تتقابل مع الطالب وتمنحه الفرصة للدفاع‪ .‬ثم يقرر أعضاء اللجنة التأديبية‬
‫العقوبة المناسبة‪ .‬يتم إخطار الطالب بالعقوبة كتابة (وغالباً ما يعنى ذلك أن يحصل‬
‫الطالب على درجة صفر فى التدريب المعنى)‪ .‬إذا اقترف الطالب سرقة علمية للمرة‬
‫الثانية يرسب فى المقرر‪ ،‬وإذا اقترفها للمرة الثالثة يفصل من البرنامج‪.‬‬
‫‪http://edcu.edu.eg/academic-integrity-ar.php‬‬
 Essay III 161
2. A Good Lesson in Translation

Translate the English into Arabic

Compare the translation you produced that the one included
above.
What did you learn

3. This Graduation Speech was given at AUC by the

late prominent Palestinian-American writer and
intellectual Edward Said (1935-2003)

Al-Ahram Weekly
24 - 30 June 1999
I
Issue No. 435
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in
1875

A place to travel in
By Edward Said Egypt
Region
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1999/435/cu1.htm International
Economy
Opinion
In every known society the academy, as Plato Culture
called it, was a protected, almost utopian Profile
Features
place. Only there could collective learning and Interview
the development of knowledge occur and, as Travel
in recent years we have discovered, it could Sports
Time Out
occur only if academic freedom from non- Chronicles
academic authority was somehow guaranteed People
and could prevail. It is an extraordinary thing to Cartoons
discover that the origins of the modern system Letters
of knowledge that we call humanism did not
originate as Jakob Burkhardt and many others
believed it did in Italy during the 15th and 16th
century Renaissance, but rather in the Arab colleges, madrasas,
162 Essay III
mosques and courts of Iraq, Sicily, Egypt, Andalusia from the 8th
century on. And in those places were formed the traditions and the
curricula of legal, theological as well as secular learning -- the so-called
studia adabiya -- from which European humanists derived many of
their ideas not only about learning itself, but also about the
environment of learning where disputation, dissent and argument
were the order of the day.

"I don't mind admitting to you as a

sign of my almost biblical age,
that I grew up in Cairo 50 years
ago during the 1940s and that the
American University in Cairo was
the first university I had anything
to do with"
Edward Said in Cairo this week
Essay III 163
For those of us who are of Arab origin and who in the modern
period have got used to the notion that the West gave rise to modes of
study, notions of academic discipline, and the whole idea of what in
Arabic we call ijtihad, or the central role of individual effort in
study and interpretation, it is salutary indeed to realise that our
Arab-Islamic culture contributed substantially to what later was
to become the whole system of education which today we call
modern, liberal and Western.

I have very little patience with ethnocentrism of the kind

trumpeted by Samuel Huntington and others like him who claim
that all ideas of democracy, freedom and enlightenment are
Western ideas, since the facts of history are, as we now know with
reference to education, very mixed, very various, very much a
matter of the contribution made by all humankind, all peoples, all
cultures. There isn't a single source for anything: all peoples
share in the making of history, all peoples make history. So let
us agree then that whether we look to the time of Ibn Arabi or that
of John Dewey we will find serious thinkers suggesting more or
less the same thing, that the place of education is a special
province within the society, a place where freedom of inquiry and
thought occur and are protected and where -- it must be said -- the
social and political context plays an important role by defining the
limits and expectations of the learning process.
164 Essay III
Yet the status of university or school as well as what goes
along with them intellectually as well as socially is special, is
different from other sites in society like the government
bureaucracy, the workplace, or the home. To say that someone is
educated or an educator is to say something having to do with the
mind, with intellectual and moral values, with a particular
process of inquiry, discussion, and exchange, none of which is
as regularly encountered outside as they are inside the academy.
The idea is that academies form the mind of the young, just as --
to look at things from the point of view of the teacher -- to teach
is to be engaged in a vocation having principally to do not with
financial gain but with the unending search for truth.

These are very high and important matters and they testify to
the genuine aura surrounding the academic and intellectual
enterprise. There is something hallowed and consecrated about
the academy: there is a sense of violated sanctity experienced by
us when the university or school is subjected to crude political
pressures. Yet, I believe, to be convinced of these genuinely
powerful truths is not entirely to be freed of the circumstances --
some would call them encumbrances -- that impinge on education
today, influence our thinking about it, shape our efforts in the
academy. The point I want to make is that as we consider these
situational or contextual matters, the search for academic freedom
becomes more important, more urgent, more requiring of careful
Essay III 165
and reflective analysis. So whereas it is universally true that
contemporary societies treat the academy with seriousness and
respect, each community of academics, intellectuals and students
must wrestle with the problem of what academic freedom in that
society at that time actually is and should be.

The best definition of a university that I know is by John

Henry Cardinal Newman who in 1854 came from England to
Ireland to establish what has since become University College,
Dublin. He said: "A university has this object and this mission;
it contemplates neither moral impression nor mechanical
production, it professes to exercise the mind neither in art nor
in duty, its function is intellectual culture; here it may leave its
scholars, and it has done its work when it has done as much as
this. It educates the intellect to reason well in all matters, to
reach out towards truth and to grasp it." "Knowledge,"
Newman says in another place, is "something intellectual,
something which grasps what it perceives through the senses;
something which takes a view of things; which sees more than
the senses convey; which reasons upon what it sees, and while it
sees; which invests it with an idea." Then he adds: "not to
know the relative disposition of things is the state of slaves or
children; to have mapped out the universe is the boast, or at
least the ambition, of philosophy," which Newman defines as
the highest state of knowledge.
166 Essay III
Comments on Quote in FIVE paragraphs:

These are incomparably eloquent statements, and they can only

be a little deflated when we remind ourselves that Newman was
speaking to and about British men, not women, and then also about
the education of young Catholics not of Egyptians or Arabs.
Nonetheless the profound truth in what Newman says is, I believe,
designed to undercut any partial, or somehow narrow view of
education whose aim might seem only to re-affirm one particularly
attractive and dominant identity, religion and authority. Perhaps
like many of his Victorian contemporaries Newman was arguing
earnestly for a type of education that placed the highest premium
on English, European or Christian values in knowledge. But
sometimes, even though we may mean to say something, another
thought at odds with what we say insinuates itself into our rhetoric,
and in effect criticises it. When we read Newman we suddenly
realise that although he is obviously extolling what is an
overridingly Western conception of the world, with little explicit
allowance made for what is African, or Arab, or Latin American, or
Indian, we realise that he says that education should map out the
universe. Thus letting slip the note that even a British or Western
identity wasn't enough, wasn't at bottom or at best what education
and freedom were all about.

Certainly it is difficult to find in Newman anything like a

licence either for blinkered specialisation or for gentlemanly
Essay III 167
aestheticism. What he expects of the academy is, he says, "the
power of viewing many things at once as one whole, of referring
them severally to their true place in the universal system, of
understanding their respective values, and determining their
mutual dependence." This synthetic wholeness has a special
relevance to the fraught political situations of conflict, the
unresolved tension and social as well as moral disparities that are
constitutive to the world of today's academy.

But what happens when we take Newman's prescriptions

about viewing many things as one whole or, referring them to
their true place in the universal system, and we transpose these
notions to today's world of embattled national identities, cultural
conflicts, and power relations? Is there any possibility of bridging
the gap between the ivory tower of contemplative rationality
ostensibly advocated by Newman and our own urgent need as
Arabs for self-realisation and self-assertion with its background in
a history of repression and denial? Can the university survive as a
real university if its governance and teaching mission become the
objects of scrutiny and direct interference not of its teachers but of
powers outside the university?

I think not. I will go further and say that it is precisely the role
of the contemporary academy to keep open the gap between itself
and society, since society itself is too directly ruled by politics to
serve so general and so finally intellectual and moral a role as
168 Essay III
the university plainly must. We must first, I think, accept that
nationalism, whether it is the nationalism of the victim or of the
victor, has its limits. For those of us just emerging from marginality
and persecution, our traditions constitute a necessary thing: a long
deferred and denied identity needs to come out into the open and
take its place among other human identities. But that is only the
first step. To make all or even most of education subservient to this
goal is to limit human horizons without either intellectual or, I
would argue, political warrant.

A single over-mastering identity guided by a religious or

secular authority outside the academy at the core of the academic
enterprise, whether that identity be Western, African, Islamic,
Arab or Asian, is a confinement, a deprivation. The world we live
in is made up of numerous identities, numerous ideas, lives,
philosophies interacting, sometimes harmoniously, sometimes
antithetically. Not to deal with that whole -- which is in fact a
contemporary version of the whole referred to by Newman as a
true enlargement of mind -- is not to have academic freedom. We
cannot make our claim as seekers after justice if we advocate
knowledge only of and about ourselves, knowledge only that is
approved by a team of referees who decide what can and cannot
be read. Who then will referee the referees?

Our model for academic freedom should be the migrant or

traveller: for if, in the real world outside the academy, we must be
Essay III 169
ourselves and only ourselves, inside the academy we should be
able to discover and travel among other selves, other identities,
other varieties of the human adventure. But, most essentially, in
this joint discovery of self and other, it is the role of the academy to
transform what might be conflict, or contest, or assertion into
reconciliation, mutuality, recognition, creative interaction. Rather
than viewing the search for knowledge in the academy as the
search for coercion and control over others, we should regard
knowledge as something for which risks must be taken, and we
should think of academic freedom as an invitation to explore
knowledge in the hope of understanding and perhaps even
assuming more than one kind. We must always view the academy
as a place to voyage in, owning none of it but at home everywhere
in it. There can be no forbidden knowledge if the modern
university is to maintain its place, its mission, its power to educate.

An altogether different challenge to the concept of academic

freedom is found in national universities in much of the
contemporary Arab world. I speak here generally of most of the
large public universities in countries all through the area. Most of
these countries are in fact run by secular governments. What is
important to understand, however, is that with few exceptions
Arab universities are not only nationalist universities, but are also
political institutions, for perfectly understandable reasons. In
Palestine, Bir Zeit and Al-Najah, for instance, have resisted Israeli
170 Essay III
occupation and preserved Palestinian identity admirably.
Elsewhere, the Arab world which had been dominated either by
Ottoman or by European colonialism, became independent after
World War II. National independence for countries like Egypt and
Syria, meant that young people at last could be educated fully in
the traditions, histories, languages and cultures of their own
particular Arab countries.

When independence was achieved as a result of anti-colonial

struggles one of the first things to be changed was education. I
recall, for instance, that after the Revolution of 1952 in Egypt a
great deal of emphasis was placed on the Arabisation of the
curriculum, of intellectual norms, of values to be inculcated in
schools and universities. The same was true of Algeria after 1962,
where an entire generation of Muslims were for the first time
entitled and enjoined to study Arabic, which had been forbidden
except as a language in mosques while Algeria was considered
and ruled as a department of France. It is important to understand,
therefore, the justified passion that went into reclaiming the
educational territory for so long dominated by foreign rulers in the
Arab world, and it is equally important to understand the
tremendous spiritual wound felt by many of us because of the
sustained presence in our midst of domineering foreigners who
taught us to respect distant norms and values more than our own.
Essay III 171
Yet it is also true to say that in the newly independent
countries of the Arab world, the national universities were often
re-conceived, I believe, as (rightly or wrongly) extensions of the
newly established national security state. Once again it is clear
that all societies accord a remarkable privilege to the university
and school as crucibles for the shaping of national identity. This is
true everywhere at sometimes too high a price. In the US there
was a great deal of pressure on universities to benefit the defence
department especially during the Cold War.

In the Arab world true education has often been short-

circuited so to speak. Whereas in the past young Arabs fell prey to
the intervention of foreign ideas and norms, now they were to be
remade in the image of the ruling party which, given the Cold
War, and the Arab-Israeli struggle, became also the party of
national security and, in some countries, the only party. Thus
adding to the vastly increased pressure on universities to open
their doors to everyone in the new society -- an extremely
admirable policy pioneered in Egypt -- universities also became
the proving ground for earnest patriots. Political conformity rather
than intellectual excellence was often made to serve as a criterion
for promotion and appointment, with the general result that
timidity and conservatism came to rule intellectual practice.
Consequently not only did many brilliant and gifted people leave
the Arab world in a massive brain drain, but I would say that the
172 Essay III
whole notion of academic freedom underwent a significant
downgrading. It became possible for one to be free in the
university only if one completely avoided anything that might
attract unwelcome attention or suspicion.

I do not want to make of this occasion a long, anguished

recital of how demoralised a place the Arab world, in most of its
contemporary aspects, has become, but I do think it is important
to link its depressed situation with the lack of democratic rights,
and of an atmosphere bereft of well-being and confidence in the
society. Political repression has never been good for academic
freedom and, perhaps more importantly, it has been disastrous for
academic and intellectual excellence when such things as book
banning and censorship are practised. My assessment as I said, is
that too high a price has been paid where political or religious
passions and an ideology of conformity dominate.

The image that must guide us in inhabiting the academic

and cultural space provided by the university is that of the
traveller and not the Sultan. Travelers must suspend the
claim of customary routine in order to live in new rhythms
and rituals. Most of all, and most unlike the Sultan who must
guard only one place and defend its frontiers, the traveller
crosses over, traverses territory, abandons fixed positions, all
the time. To do this with dedication and love as well as a
realistic sense of the terrain is, I believe, academic freedom at
Essay III 173
its highest, since one of its main features is that you can leave
authority and dogma to the Sultan. Academic freedom is risk
and danger. It means allowing oneself a few years where the
conventions of society are suspended so that the search for
knowledge can go on for the love of knowledge alone.

Read Edward Said’s lecture and identify his argument and his
evidence and support.

4. The Integration of Sources

At the beginning of the article, Edward Said quotes the
word “academy” from Plato. Being an institution, in which
learning and instruction takes place, the academy should be
perfect: a “utopia”. This implies that it should be a place in
which there should be no evil or corruption of any kind. So
when Edward Said uses one word from Plato, that is the
academy, he mentions Plato’s name. this is academic integrity.
Edward Said correctly argues that this is where “collective
learning and the development of knowledge occur.” Students
and teachers alike must abide by the rules of academic integrity
(a set of values of proper, honest academic behavior that both
teachers and students have to follow when conducting research
and when dealing with each other) and copyright law in
conducting research and in everything else they are doing.

Points to Consider:
Academic writing requires serious research and exploration.
You need to read about a point you are interested in and decide
174 Essay III
what your focus will be. You then need a thesis as the previous
lectures explain: you support your ideas and opinions with facts,
statistics, quotations, and supporting details. You get these from
outside sources such as books, magazines, newspapers, web sites,
personal interviews, and so on.
Facts versus Opinions
It is important to distinguish between facts and opinions.
Opinions are subjective statements based on a person’s beliefs or
attitudes.
• Men are better drivers than women
• Fighting illiteracy can solve the problems of Egypt
• English is an easy language to learn.
Opinions are not acceptable as support. It is certainly acceptable
to express opinions in academic writing. In fact, most professors
want you to express your own ideas. However, you may not use an
opinion as support, and if you express an opinion, you must support

it with facts. Facts are objective statements of truths.

At sea level, water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.

Women live longer than men.
Cigarettes are addictive.

Sometimes even facts need proof. While all three statements

above are facts, the last two need proof. Your readers may not
believe that women live longer than men, or they may not agree that
cigarettes are addictive. You have to use specific supporting details
Essay III 175
to prove that these statements are true facts. Kinds of specific
supporting details include examples, statistics, and quotation.

Opinion versus Point of View

It is also important to distinguish between opinion and point of
view. Both are subjective statements based on a person’s beliefs or
attitudes, but opinion does not require proof or evidence, like I love
my new car/dress. When you write an essay in which you introduce
your point of view, that is argument, you need to provide the
reader with evidence, support, analysis, development, and possibly
your counter argument of the opposing point of view.

Why do we use sources?

• to cite/give credit to a source

This is what Edward Said does when he quotes and cites Plato
and Newman.
• to support an argument
This is what Edward Said does when he quotes Plate because
Said agrees with him.
• to refute an argument
This is what Edward Said does when he quotes Newman.
Said refutes his argument. This means that Said quotes exactly
what Newman said between quotation marks and this is followed
by another important step. Said then writes five paragraphs to
describe the context in which Newman lives and proves that
Newman wrote a good definition of an academic institution, but
176 Essay III
did not apply this definition in real life.
Who does Edward Said cite in his talk/lecture/graduation
ceremony?
e. Plato
f. Jakob Burkhardt
g. Samuel Huntington
h. John Henry Cardinal Newman
Each of these has a different purpose.
1. Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher, who lived in the
4th/5th century BC, wrote his famous book The
Republic about an ideal society led by philosophers.
2. Jakob Burkhardt (1818-1897) was a Swiss historian who
is known for his book The Civilization of the
Renaissance in Italy.
3. Samuel Huntington (1927-2008) was an American
political scientist who wrote a book entitled The Clash
of Civilizations. He argued that culture and religion is
the primary factor that will lead to conflict after the
cold war.
4. John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) was an
English theologian (Catholic priest) who went from
England to Ireland in 1854 to establish University
College, Dublin (that exists until today).
Essay III 177
How and why did Edward Said use these sources?
When did Said use quotations? When did he use a summary?
And when did he paraphrase?
These are all important questions so that when you quote you
know why and when you summarize and/or paraphrase, you know
why you are doing this.

Sources
Evaluation of a Source:
1. Who is the writer?
• What are the credentials of the writer? Biographical
information?
• What is the relation of the writer to the subject
matter? Scholar? Practitioner? Has multiple works
on the subject?
2. Is this an anthology?
• Who contributed to this anthology?
• What does the table of contents include?
3. What is the name of the publisher?
• Significance of publisher? University Press?
Commercial? Reputable?
• What else did the publisher publish?
4. When was the book/paper published?
5. Where was the book/paper published?
6. What is the title of the book?
• What perspective does the title suggest? Cultural?
Legal? Religious? Ethical?
178 Essay III
7. What is the title of the paper?
8. Evaluate the bibliography of the source. Does the
bibliography show the value of the paper? Book?
9. How is this work relevant to the paper one is writing?
Essay III 179
Chapter VII. Applications: Readings with Arguments
A. A Narrative with an Argument
“The Weapon”
by Frederic Brown (1906 –1972)

The room was quiet in the dimness of early evening. Dr.

James Graham, key scientist of a very important project, sat in his
favorite chair, thinking. It was so still that he could hear the
turning of pages in the next room as his son leafed through a
picture book. Often Graham did his best work, his most creative
thinking, under these circumstances, sitting alone in an unlighted
room in his own apartment after the day’s regular work. But
tonight his mind would not work constructively. Mostly he
thought about his mentally arrested son–his only son–in the next
room. The thoughts were loving thoughts, not the bitter anguish
he had felt years ago when he had first learned of the boy’s
condition. The boy was happy; wasn’t that the main thing? And to
how many men is given a child who will always be a child, who
will not grow up to leave him?
Certainly that was rationalization, but what is wrong with
rationalization when–The doorbell rang. Graham rose and turned
on lights in the almost-dark room before he went through the
hallway to the door. He was not annoyed; tonight, at this moment,
almost any interruption to his thoughts was welcome.
180 Essay III

He opened the door. A stranger stood there; he said, “Dr.

Graham? My name is Niemand; I’d like to talk to you. May I
come in a moment?”
Graham looked at him. He was a small man, nondescript,
obviously harmless–possibly a reporter or an insurance agent. But
it didn’t matter what he was. Graham found himself saying, “Of
course. Come in, Mr. Niemand.”
A few minutes of conversation, he justified himself by
thinking, might divert his thoughts and clear his mind. “Sit
down,” he said, in the living room. “Care for a drink?” Niemand
said, “No, thank you.” He sat in the chair; Graham sat on the sofa.

The small man interlocked his fingers; he leaned forward. He

said, “Dr. Graham, you are the man whose scientific work is more
likely than that of any other man to end the human race’s chance
for survival.”

A crackpot, Graham thought. Too late now he realized that he

should have asked the man’s business before admitting him. It
would be an embarrassing interview–he disliked being rude, yet
only rudeness was effective.

“Dr. Graham, the weapon on which you are working–”

The visitor stopped and turned his head as the door that led to a
bedroom opened and a boy of fifteen came in. The boy didn’t notice
Niemand; he ran to Graham. “Daddy, will you read to me now?”

The boy of fifteen laughed the sweet laughter of a child of

Essay III 181

four. Graham put an arm around the boy. He looked at his visitor,
wondering whether he had known about the boy. From the lack of
surprise on Niemand’s face, Graham felt sure he had known.
“Harry”–Graham’s voice was warm with affection. “Daddy’s
busy. Just for a little while. Go back to your room; I’ll come and
read to you soon.”

“Chicken Little? You’ll read me Chicken Little?”

“If you wish. Now run along. Wait. Harry, this is Mr.
Niemand.”

The boy smiled bashfully at the visitor. Niemand said, “Hi,

Harry,” and smiled back at him, holding out his hand. Graham,
watching, was sure now that Niemand had known: the smile and
the gesture were for the boy’s mental age, not his physical one.

The boy took Niemand’s hand. For a moment it seemed that

he was going to climb into Niemand’s lap, and Graham pulled
him back gently. He said, “Go to your room now, Harry.”

The boy skipped back into his bedroom, not closing the door.
Niemand’s eyes met Graham’s and he said, “I like him,” with
obvious sincerity. He added, “I hope that what you’re going to
read to him will always be true.”

Graham didn’t understand. Niemand said, “Chicken Little, I

mean. It’s a fine story–but may Chicken Little always be wrong
about the sky falling down.”

Graham suddenly had liked Niemand when Niemand had

182 Essay III

shown liking for the boy. Now he remembered that he must close
the interview quickly. He rose, in dismissal.

He said, “I fear you’re wasting your time and mine, Mr.

Niemand. I know all the arguments, everything you can say I’ve
heard a thousand times. Possibly there is truth in what you
believe, but it does not concern me. I’m a scientist, and only a
scientist. Yes, it is public knowledge that I am working on a
weapon, a rather ultimate one. But, for me personally, that is only
a by-product of the fact that I am advancing science. I have
thought it through, and I have found that that is my only concern.”
“But, Dr. Graham, is humanity ready for an ultimate
weapon?” Graham frowned. “I have told you my point of view,
Mr. Niemand.”

Niemand rose slowly from the chair. He said, “Very well, if

you do not choose to discuss it, I’ll say no more.” He passed a hand
across his forehead. “I’ll leave, Dr. Graham. I wonder, though . . .
may I change my mind about the drink you offered me?”

Graham’s irritation faded. He said, “Certainly. Will whisky

and water do?”

“Admirably.”

Graham excused himself and went into the kitchen. He got the
decanter of whisky, another of water, ice cubes, and glasses.
When he returned to the living room, Niemand was just leaving
the boy’s bedroom. He heard Niemand’s “Good night, Harry,”
and Harry’s happy “Night, Mr. Niemand.”
Essay III 183

Graham made drinks. A little later, Niemand declined a

second one and started to leave. Niemand said, “I took the liberty
of bringing a small gift to your son, doctor. I gave it to him while
you were getting the drinks for us. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

“Of course. Thank you. Good night.”

Graham closed the door; he walked through the living room

into Harry’s room. He said, “All right, Harry. Now I’ll read to-”

There was sudden sweat on his forehead, but he forced his

face and his voice to be calm as he stepped to the side of the bed.
“May I see that, Harry?” When he had it safely, his hands shook
as he examined it.

He thought, only a madman would give a loaded revolver to

an idiot.

Critical Reading and Writing

Points to consider

1. Write about the character of Niemand.

2. Write about the character of Graham.

3. From the details in this narrative, where is the action taking

place?

4. Describe the setting (scenery).

Find a short story by a well-known writer, and discuss the

language and elements of this short story with your classmates.
184 Essay III

Description

Description can seem easy, but in order to describe a scene,

character, caricature, an event or a place in detail in order to
convey an argument is difficult. The romantics described nature
well in poetry to portray the elements of nature as teachers that
lead to God, the creator of nature.

Description can be in verse and prose. Here is a sample of

each. Poetry is always more difficult, but I will start with the
extract from a romantic poem and the move on to a narrative.

B. An Extract from Wordsworth’s

The Simplon Pass Experience
(The Prelude VI. 617-40)

This extract has five sentences. Notice the differences in the

lengths and pace of the difference sentences. Is the length and
pace of each sentence deliberate or by chance?
The melancholy slackening that ensued
Upon those tidings by the peasant given
Was soon dislodged. Downwards we hurried fast,
And, with the half-shaped road which he had missed,
Entered a narrow chasm. The brook and road
Were fellow-travellers in this gloomy strait.
Essay III 185

And with them did we journey several hours

At a slow pace. The immeasurable height
Of woods decaying, never to be decayed,
That stationary blasts of waterfalls,
And in the narrow rent at every turn
Winds thwarting winds, bewildered and forlorn,
The torrents shooting from the clear blue sky,
The rocks that muttered close upon our ears,
Black drizzling crags [cliffs] that spake by the wayside
As if a voice were in them, the sick sight
And giddy prospect of the raving stream,
The unfettered clouds and region of the Heavens,
Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light –
Were all like workings of one mind, the features,
Of the same face, blossoms upon one tree;
Characters of the great Apocalypse,
The types and symbols of Eternity,
Of first, and last, and midst, and without end.
Wordsworth starts this extract with a narrative. He describes
his state of mind. He crossed the Alps. This was a disappointing
experience. Now, he is going to narrate events and describe a
scene that is inspiring. He tells the reader that he managed to
overcome the sad state because the Alps disappointed him. He
186 Essay III

decided to forget about it and “hurried fast” to a “narrow chasm”

(passage), a “gloomy strait” (another rhythm-making adjective-
noun combination).
Wordsworth is on a journey with his companion. There is another
metaphoric journey in which the “brook and road/Were fellow-
travellers”. Because they travelled at a “slow pace”, he observed
nature and described it. Four short sentences are followed by a fifth
that is seventeen lines long. There are twelve lines of clauses that
serve as the subject of his sentence. What is the main verb of this
sentence? If you find it, you will understand the structure of the
sentence. In this long sentence he wants to convey a discovery, a
moment of light, a moment of illumination in the remaining five lines.
Let us look at the description first before discussing the discovery:
The “woods”, “waterfalls”, “winds” and the different sounds of the
“torrents”, “rocks”, and “stream”, ‘all’ reveal and prove to be the
“workings of one mind”. Before discussing the expressions used to
convey the discovery it is necessary to shed light on the scene he
describes in rhythmical clauses.
There are a series of antitheses (opposites, contrasts) in this
passage. Wordsworth describes the “woods decaying, never to be
decayed” to stress the idea of immortality. The “stationary blasts
of waterfalls” is an unusual image: from a distance the waterfall is
like a picture. The scene is like an immortal painting. “Winds” are
personified as “thwarting winds, bewildered and forlorn”. These
winds are like a tempest. This antithesis stresses the energy of the
winds that can be surprising. Wordsworth introduces another
unfamiliar image of “torrents shooting from the clear blue sky.”
Essay III 187

The rains are falling heavily although the sky is clear and blue.
There is an onomatopoeia in “torrents” and “blasts”. These sounds
are transferred in his mind to sounds uttered by rocks. The stream
too has something to say in a “raving” tone. This shows that
talking insanely is ‘natural’ as well. Before the climax of his
description he mentions the “clouds.” He looks upon the scene as
a “region of the Heavens” with “tumult and peace, the darkness
and the light”.
From the poet’s description, the reader gets an impression that
the scene is beautiful but unreal. The unreal quality of the scene
makes it visionary. The “immeasurable height” of the trees keeps
“the clear blue sky” out of view. The vision becomes blurred to
allow the imagination to paint a picture of a visionary atmosphere.
The fusion and harmony between “discordant elements”
This experience gives Wordsworth access to the “invisible
world”. The truth is revealed to him and he manages to see that all the
different elements and forces “were all like the workings of one
mind”. In the Simplon Pass episode Wordsworth is receptive. The
scene with its different components is as alive as a human face with
its distinct features. The scene is also compared to “blossoms upon
one tree”. This signifies unity. Whereas the previous comparison was
between Nature and Man, this one is between Nature and Nature.
To him, at the end there is discovery and a prayer: “Of first,
him last, him midst, and without end” (V. 165). Wordsworth does
not directly mention God, but Nature is revealed as the creation of
one God.
188 Essay III
C. The Death of the Moth
By Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

In her story, Virginia Woolf explores the span moth’s life.

This is the power of illustration and evidence and support.

Moths that fly by day are not properly to be called moths; they
do not excite that pleasant sense of dark autumn nights and ivy-
blossom which the commonest yellow-underwing asleep in the
shadow of the curtain never fails to rouse in us. They are hybrid
creatures, neither gay like butterflies nor sombre like their own
species. Nevertheless the present specimen, with his narrow hay-
coloured wings, fringed with a tassel of the same colour, seemed to
be content with life. It was a pleasant morning, mid–September,
mild, benignant, yet with a keener breath than that of the summer
months. The plough was already scoring the field opposite the
window, and where the share had been, the earth was pressed flat
and gleamed with moisture. Such vigour came rolling in from the
fields and the down beyond that it was difficult to keep the eyes
strictly turned upon the book. The rooks too were keeping one of
their annual festivities; soaring round the tree tops until it looked as
if a vast net with thousands of black knots in it had been cast up
into the air; which, after a few moments sank slowly down upon
the trees until every twig seemed to have a knot at the end of it.
Then, suddenly, the net would be thrown into the air again in a
wider circle this time, with the utmost clamour and vociferation, as
Essay III 189

though to be thrown into the air and settle slowly down upon the
tree tops were a tremendously exciting experience.

The same energy which inspired the rooks, the ploughmen,

the horses, and even, it seemed, the lean bare-backed downs, sent
the moth fluttering from side to side of his square of the window-
pane. One could not help watching him. One was, indeed,
conscious of a queer feeling of pity for him. The possibilities of
pleasure seemed that morning so enormous and so various that to
have only a moth’s part in life, and a day moth’s at that, appeared
a hard fate, and his zest in enjoying his meagre opportunities to
the full, pathetic. He flew vigorously to one corner of his
compartment, and, after waiting there a second, flew across to the
other. What remained for him but to fly to a third corner and then
to a fourth? That was all he could do, in spite of the size of the
downs, the width of the sky, the far-off smoke of houses, and the
romantic voice, now and then, of a steamer out at sea. What he
could do he did. Watching him, it seemed as if a fibre, very thin
but pure, of the enormous energy of the world had been thrust into
his frail and diminutive body. As often as he crossed the pane, I
could fancy that a thread of vital light became visible. He was
little or nothing but life.
Yet, because he was so small, and so simple a form of the
energy that was rolling in at the open window and driving its way
through so many narrow and intricate corridors in my own brain
and in those of other human beings, there was something
marvellous as well as pathetic about him. It was as if someone
190 Essay III

had taken a tiny bead of pure life and decking it as lightly as

possible with down and feathers, had set it dancing and zig-
zagging to show us the true nature of life. Thus displayed one
could not get over the strangeness of it. One is apt to forget all
about life, seeing it humped and bossed and garnished and
cumbered so that it has to move with the greatest circumspection
and dignity. Again, the thought of all that life might have been
had he been born in any other shape caused one to view his
simple activities with a kind of pity.

After a time, tired by his dancing apparently, he settled on the

window ledge in the sun, and, the queer spectacle being at an end, I
forgot about him. Then, looking up, my eye was caught by him. He
was trying to resume his dancing, but seemed either so stiff or so
awkward that he could only flutter to the bottom of the window-
pane; and when he tried to fly across it he failed. Being intent on
other matters I watched these futile attempts for a time without
thinking, unconsciously waiting for him to resume his flight, as one
waits for a machine, that has stopped momentarily, to start again
without considering the reason of its failure. After perhaps a seventh
attempt he slipped from the wooden ledge and fell, fluttering his
wings, on to his back on the window sill. The helplessness of his
attitude roused me. It flashed upon me that he was in difficulties; he
could no longer raise himself; his legs struggled vainly. But, as I
stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right himself, it came
over me that the failure and awkwardness were the approach of
death. I laid the pencil down again.
Essay III 191

The legs agitated themselves once more. I looked as if for the

enemy against which he struggled. I looked out of doors. What
had happened there? Presumably it was midday, and work in the
fields had stopped. Stillness and quiet had replaced the previous
animation. The birds had taken themselves off to feed in the
brooks. The horses stood still. Yet the power was there all the
same, massed outside indifferent, impersonal, not attending to
anything in particular. Somehow it was opposed to the little hay-
coloured moth. It was useless to try to do anything. One could
only watch the extraordinary efforts made by those tiny legs
against an oncoming doom which could, had it chosen, have
submerged an entire city, not merely a city, but masses of human
beings; nothing, I knew, had any chance against death.
Nevertheless after a pause of exhaustion the legs fluttered again.
It was superb this last protest, and so frantic that he succeeded at
last in righting himself. One’s sympathies, of course, were all on
the side of life. Also, when there was nobody to care or to know,
this gigantic effort on the part of an insignificant little moth,
against a power of such magnitude, to retain what no one else
valued or desired to keep, moved one strangely. Again, somehow,
one saw life, a pure bead. I lifted the pencil again, useless though
I knew it to be. But even as I did so, the unmistakable tokens of
death showed themselves. The body relaxed, and instantly grew
stiff. The struggle was over. The insignificant little creature now
knew death. As I looked at the dead moth, this minute wayside
triumph of so great a force over so mean an antagonist filled me
with wonder. Just as life had been strange a few minutes before,
192 Essay III

so death was now as strange. The moth having righted himself

now lay most decently and uncomplainingly composed. O yes, he
seemed to say, death is stronger than I am.
Points to Consider:
1.Who is Virginia Woolf?
2. What is a moth?
3. How does Woolf define the moth?
4. What is the argument in this piece? Does Woolf have a
thesis?
6. What are the steps Woolf uses to introduce her argument?
7. What does this essayist say about the moth’s encounter
with death?
8. How far is death both natural and well designed?
9. Is the writer’s thesis based on fact, opinion, or a
combination of both? Which words indicate that the author
is giving her opinion?
10. What kind of “knowledge” does the moth have?
11. Comment on the use of “insignificant” and “significant”.
12. How is this a narrative? How and why?
13. When is the climactic point in the reading?
14. Describe the setting.
Essay III 193

Glossary

Academy: a school or an institution for learning; a community of

authors, writers and or scholars.
Academic Integrity: honesty and sincerity in an academic institution.
Academic Writing: research and scholarly writing in an academic
institution.
Analysis: discussing the parts or elements of something (character,
feeling, film, book, etc.) that make it up.
Argument: reason or reasons to support a position/point of view.
Balãgha: ‘ilm ma‘ani: the science of meanings
‫‘ علم البيان‬ilm bayãn: the science of articulation, good style, and
clarity of ideas and speech
‫‘ علم البديع‬ilm badee‘: the science of beauty/ornamentation/invention
Deductive Reasoning: starting with a broad, general claim and using
it to support a more specific point of view.
Definition: writing that clarifies the meaning of a word, term, or
idea/concept.
Description: an account that describes.
Cause and Effect: a person or event that makes something happen
and the effect of what happens on people or places.
Claim: a point of view that one supports; declare a position as true or
factual; call for; demand a right; something that is claimed.
Classification: to arrange in groups or classes for a purpose.
Comparison and Contrast: the similarities and differences between
people, places, ideas, etc.
194 Essay III
Controlling Ideas: the thoughts in the mind that support a point of
view. These controlling ideas are written in the thesis, or
the topic sentences and they require evidence, support
and analysis.
Controversial Issue: an idea that is debatable.
Elaboration: to move beyond dealing with a fact, to explaining the
significance or relevance of this fact.
Ethos: the term Aristotle used for ethics, i.e. moral values and
qualities of character.
Exemplification: to use examples or a variety of evidence to support
a single point.
Fallacy: a mistake or error in reasoning or a false idea.
Fragment: a piece of something broken; an incomplete sentence.
Inductive Reasoning: using several specific points or cases to make
a generalization.
Logos: the term Aristotle used for logic, i.e. reasoning.
Narration: a piece of writing that tells a story or narrates an event.
Paragraph: a coherent and cohesive series of sentences to discuss a
point/focus.
Pathos: the term Aristotle used for passion, i.e. emotions and feelings.
Process: the steps to achieve a goal.
Rhetoric: the art of communicating effectively.
Structure: a building, essay, novel, play, poem made up of parts that
are well arranged together to constitute a whole.
The Rhetorical Appeals: according to Aristotle, these are logos,
pathos, ethos.
Essay III 195
The Rhetorical Modes: Definition, Description, Classification,
Cause and Effect, Comparison and Contrast, Process, and
Narration.
The Rhetorical Situation: writer/speaker, reader/listener, purpose;
writing and/or speaking in a context: at a certain time, in
a certain place.
Thesis: statement (s) or proposition that requires evidence, support
and analysis.
Topic Sentence: the sentence in the paragraph that introduces the
claim and/or focus that the writer supports.
196 Essay III
Essay III 197

References

Aristotle. On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse. 2nd ed. Trans.

George A. Kennedy. New York: Oxford UP, 2007.
Burke, Kenneth. A Rhetoric of Motives. Berkeley: U of California P,
1969.
Douglas, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An
American Slave. Chapter VI
https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/narrative-of-the-life-
of-frederick-douglass-an-american-slave-chapter-vi/
Johnson-Sheehan, Richard and Charles Paine. Writing Today. New York:
Pearson Education, 2010.
198 Essay III
SUPPLEMENTARY
MATERIAL
With Explanations
200 Essay III
1. What is Analysis?

But what is analysis?

The verb “to analyse” means to study an issue, a character, a

book, an institution, an event, etc. in detail by breaking it down to
parts, elements, constituents, or aspects. Analysis is the process of
breaking a whole into its separate parts in order to examine the
parts to give meaning to the whole. Analysis is different from
argument, but analysis is used to support argument.

Analyze a subject: character, an institution, a problem, an

argument, a text, a speech, a song, a cartoon, a message, an
advertisement, a poem, text, film, person, place, government, etc.

Analysis DOES NOT just describe (what is it?), summarize, or

interpret.

What are steps that lead to analysis?

Prepare/Formulate questions before reading, visiting, or viewing
the subject to be analyzed: gather information: take notes, and
record observations of personal experiences. Typical
questions include:

What is the purpose of the whole? Do the collective parts that

make up the whole accomplish this purpose?

How do the parts fit together to create the whole? What is the
relationship between these parts?

What are the benefits of the whole and individual parts?

What are the problems of the whole and individual parts?

Essay III 201
Identify the focus of the analysis:

If the purpose is to analyse an article, here are the steps:

• Read the article

• Select an aspect of the article that you find particularly
interesting, troubling, exciting, confusing, or problematic
• Make a claim or set of claims to which the author is
committed, either by explicitly arguing for them, or
presupposing them.
• Express yourself in the simplest, clearest, and most precise
terms possible.
• Your analysis should be meaningful, concise and thorough and
you should not engage in:
Pointless repetition

Personal attacks on the author or questioning of

the author's psychological motives

Form

Your analysis must have the following three sections: a claim,

development, and conclusion.

As you introduce the claim, you must identify the article

and writer and describe in one or two sentences what
problem(s) it addresses and what view(s) it defends.
State precisely which aspect(s) of the article your analysis
will address and what you intend to accomplish. The topic
sentence must be specific about the case you intend to
make, and the basic considerations you intend to employ
in making it.
202 Essay III
Summarize those aspects of the article that are relevant to
your analysis. This summary must be accurate in
presenting the author’s point of view and must present the
ideas in a logical sequence rather than chronologically.
Content
Your analysis must have a focus.
It should show that you have thought about the focus in
depth and have something interesting to say about it.
It can demonstrate an awareness of other relevant
readings.
You must note when you are reproducing criticisms made
by other authors you have read.
You should be careful to include or consider important
criticisms made by other authors when they are relevant to
your own concerns.
It should be organized in a way that reflects the points you
would like to make in a logical sequence.
Essay III 203
2. Definition

The act of defining terms is important in more ways than one.

And there are different ways of writing definitions:

1. Logical definitions establish a distinction between the term

that is defined and others that are similar:

A friend is a person one can trust.

Plague is a disease that is an

epidemic.

2. Definition by description identifies the qualities of the term

being defined:

A nightingale is a bird that has a distinctive

song. A friend is someone who listens and talks

to you.

3. Definition by negation explains what the term is

not: A friend will not disappoint you.

Is a bat a mammal or a bird?

4. Definition by using a

metaphor; A friend is a

treasure.

Egypt was the breadbasket of Europe.

5. Definition by quotation:

“Democracy is the rule of the people by the people for the

people” Abraham Lincoln
204 Essay III

“To be or not to be” Hamlet by Shakespeare

6. Operational definition tells and shows how something

works:

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

A rolling pin is for flattening dough.

Tips for Good Definition Paragraphs

1. Start your paragraph with a definition that can attract the

attention of the reader. Think whether your reader would
prefer a dictionary definition or the definition of an
authority on your focus or a definition that you have
produced after a great deal of reading.

2. After this topic sentence, develop and analyse your

definition.

3. Tell your reader what your term does not mean.

4. What aspects of the term are controversial? Make this point

clear to your reader.

5. Choose a definition by an authority, support it and explain

why.

6. Choose a definition by an authority, refute it and explain

why.

7. Can you think of an image that helps you in defining the

term? Explain it.
8. End with a conclusion which reflects what you mentioned
in your paragraph.
Essay III 205
WHAT IS HAPPINESS?

By JOHN CIARDI (1916—1986)

The right to pursue happiness is issued to Americans with their birth

certificates, but no one seems quite sure which way it ran. It may be
we are issued a hunting license but offered no game. Jona¬than Swift
seemed to think so when he attacked the idea of happiness as “the
possession of being well-deceived,” the felicity of being “a fool
among knaves.” For Swift saw society as Vanity Fair, the land of
false goals.

It is, of course, un-American to think in terms of fools and

knaves. We do, however, seem to be dedicated to the idea of buying
our way to happiness. We shall all have made it to Heaven when we
possess enough. And at the same time the forces of American
commercialism are hugely dedicated to making us deliberately
unhappy. Advertising is one of our major industries, and advertising
exists not to satisfy desires but to create them—and to create them
faster than any man s budget can satisfy them. For that matter, our
whole economy is based on a dedicated insatiability. We are taught
that to possess is to be happy, and then we are made to want. We are
even told it is our duty to want. It was only a few years ago, to cite a
single example, that car dealers across the country were flying
banners that read “You Auto Buy Now.” They were calling upon
Americans, as an act approaching patriotism, to buy at once, with
money they did not have, automobiles they did not really need, and
which they would be required to grow tired of by the time the next
206 Essay III
year’s models were released.

Or look at any of the women’s magazines. There, as Bernard

DeVoto once pointed out, advertising begins as poetry in the front
pages and ends as pharmacopoeia and therapy in the back pages. The
poetry of the front matter is the dream of perfect beauty. This is the
baby skin that must be hers. These, the flawless teeth. This, the
perfumed breath she must exhale. This, the sixteen-year-old figure
she must display at forty, at fifty, at sixty, and forever.

Once past the vaguely uplifting fiction and feature articles, the
reader finds the other face of the dream in the back matter. This is the
harness into which Mother must strap herself in order to display that
perfect figure. These, the chin straps she must sleep in. This is the
salve that restores all, this is her laxative, these are the tablets that
melt away fat, these are the hormones of perpetual youth, these are
the stockings that hide varicose veins.

Obviously no half-sane person can be completely persuaded

either by such poetry or by such pharmacopoeia and orthopedics. Yet
someone is obviously trying to buy the dream as offered and
spending billions every year in the attempt. Clearly the happiness-
market is not running out of customers, but what is it trying to buy?

The idea “happiness,” to be sure, will not sit still for easy
definition: the best one can do is to try to set some extremes to the
idea and then work in toward the middle. To think of happiness as
acquisitive and competitive will do to set the materialistic extreme.
To think of it as the idea one senses in, say, a holy man of India will
do to set the spiritual extreme. That holy man s idea of happiness is
Essay III 207
in needing nothing from outside himself. In wanting nothing, he
lacks nothing. He sits immobile, rapt in contemplation, free even of
his own body. Or nearly free of it. If devout admirers bring him food
he eats it; if not, he starves indifferently. Why be concerned? What is
physical is an illusion to him. Contemplation is his joy and he
achieves it through a fantastically demanding discipline, the
accomplishment of which is itself a joy within him.

Is he a happy man? Perhaps his happiness is only another sort 8

of illusion. But who can take it from him? And who will dare say it is
more illusory than happiness on the installment plan?

But, perhaps because I am Western, I doubt such catatonic 9

happiness, as I doubt the dreams of the happiness-market. What is
certain is that his way of happiness would be torture to almost any
Western man. Yet these extremes will still serve to frame the area
within which all of us must find some sort of balance. Thoreau—a
creature of both Eastern and Western thought—had his own firm
sense of that balance. His aim was to save on the low levels in order
to spend on the high.

Possession for its own sake or in competition with the rest of the
neighborhood would have been Thoreau’s idea of the low levels. The
active discipline of heightening one’s perception of what is enduring
in nature would have been his idea of the high. What he saved from
the low was time and effort he could spend on the high. Thoreau
certainly disapproved of starvation, but he would put into feeding
himself only as much effort as would keep him functioning for more
important efforts.
208 Essay III
Effort is the gist of it. There is no happiness except as we take on
life-engaging difficulties. Short of the impossible, as Yeats put it, the
satisfactions we get from a lifetime depend on how high we choose
our difficulties. Robert Frost was thinking in something like the same
terms when he spoke of “The pleasure of taking pains.” The mortal
flaw in the advertised version of happiness is in the fact that it
purports to be effortless.

We demand difficulty even in our games. We demand it because

without difficulty there can be no game. A game is a way of making
something hard for the fun of it. The rules of the game are an
arbitrary imposition of difficulty. When the spoil-sport ruins the fun,
he always does so by refusing to play by the rules. It is easier to win
at chess if you are free, at your pleasure, to change the wholly
arbitrary rules, but the fun is in winning within the rules. No
difficulty, no fun.

The buyers and sellers at the happiness-market seem too often to

have lost their sense of the pleasure of difficulty. Heaven knows what
they are playing, but it seems a dull game. And the Indian holy man
seems dull to us, I suppose, because he seems to be refusing to play
anything at all. The Western weakness may be in the illusion that
happiness can be bought. Perhaps the Eastern weakness is in the idea
that there is such a thing as perfect (and therefore static) happiness.

Happiness is never more than partial. There are no pure states of

mankind. Whatever else happiness may be, it is neither in having nor
in being, but in becoming. What the Founding Fathers declared for us
as an inherent right, we should do well to remember, was not
Essay III 209
happiness but the pursuit of happiness. What they might have
underlined, could they have foreseen the happiness—market, is the
cardinal fact that happiness is in the pursuit itself, in the meaningful
pursuit of what is life-engaging and life-revealing, which is to say, in
the idea of becoming. A nation is not measured by what it possesses
or wants to possess, but by what it wants to become.

By all means let the happiness-market sell us minor satisfactions

and even minor follies so long as we keep them in scale and buy
them out of spiritual change. I am no customer for either puritanism
or asceticism. But drop any real spiritual capital at those bazaars, and
what you come home to will be your own poorhouse.

Critical Reading
1. As an Egyptian, what is your definition of happiness?
2. Ciardi uses imagery. Identify and analyze them.
3. How similar or different is your definition from Ciardi’s?
4. How far is Ciardi right when he said “No difficulty, no fun.”
Is this similar to “No pain, no gain”?
5. Is happiness only “partial”? How? Why? Why not?
6. What makes you happy? Have you been “happy?” When? Why?
7. What is the difference between being and becoming?
8. What is the difference between happiness and the pursuit of
happiness?
9. What does Ciardi say about advertising? Do you agree or
disagree? Why?
10. What is the relationship between perception of happiness and
happiness?
210 Essay III

3. Narrative with an Argument

A HANGING
George Orwell

It was in Burma, a sodden morning of the rains. A sickly light, like

yellow tinfoil, was slanting over the high walls into the jail yard. We
were waiting outside the condemned cells, a row of sheds fronted
with double bars, like small animal cages. Each cell measured about
ten feet by ten and was quite bare within except for a plank bed and a
pot of drinking water. In some of them brown silent men were
squatting at the inner bars, with their blankets draped round them.
These were the condemned men, due to be hanged within the next
week or two.

One prisoner had been brought out of his cell. He was a Hindu, a
puny wisp of a man, with a shaven head and vague liquid eyes. He had
a thick, sprouting moustache, absurdly too big for his body, rather like
the moustache of a comic man on the films. Six tall Indian warders
were guarding him and getting him ready for the gallows. Two of them
stood by with rifles and fixed bayonets, while the others handcuffed
him, passed a chain through his handcuffs and fixed it to their belts,
and lashed his arms tight to his sides. They crowded very close about
him, with their hands always on him in a careful, caressing grip, as
though all the while feeling him to make sure he was there. It was like
men handling a fish which is still alive and may jump back into the
water. But he stood quite unresisting, yielding his arms limply to the
Essay III 211
ropes, as though he hardly noticed what was happening.

Eight o'clock struck and a bugle call, desolately thin in the wet
air, floated from the distant barracks. The superintendent of the jail,
who was standing apart from the rest of us, moodily prodding the
gravel with his stick, raised his head at the sound. He was an army
doctor, with a grey toothbrush moustache and a gruff voice. ‘For
God's sake hurry up, Francis,’ he said irritably. ‘The man ought to
have been dead by this time. Aren't you ready yet?’

Francis, the head jailer, a fat Dravidian in a white drill suit and
gold spectacles, waved his black hand. ‘Yes sir, yes sir,’ he bubbled.
‘All iss satisfactorily prepared. The hangman iss waiting. We shall
proceed.’
‘Well, quick march, then. The prisoners can't get their
breakfast till this job's over.’

We set out for the gallows. Two warders marched on either side
of the prisoner, with their rifles at the slope; two others marched
close against him, gripping him by arm and shoulder, as though at
once pushing and supporting him. The rest of us, magistrates and the
like, followed behind. Suddenly, when we had gone ten yards, the
procession stopped short without any order or warning. A dreadful
thing had happened — a dog, come goodness knows whence, had
appeared in the yard. It came bounding among us with a loud volley
of barks, and leapt round us wagging its whole body, wild with glee
at finding so many human beings together. It was a large woolly dog,
half Airedale, half pariah. For a moment it pranced round us, and
then, before anyone could stop it, it had made a dash for the prisoner,
212 Essay III
and jumping up tried to lick his face. Everyone stood aghast, too
taken aback even to grab at the dog.
‘Who let that bloody brute in here?’ said the superintendent
angrily. ‘Catch it, someone!’

A warder, detached from the escort, charged clumsily after the

dog, but it danced and gambolled just out of his reach, taking
everything as part of the game. A young Eurasian jailer picked up a
handful of gravel and tried to stone the dog away, but it dodged the
stones and came after us again. Its yaps echoed from the jail wails.
The prisoner, in the grasp of the two warders, looked on incuriously,
as though this was another formality of the hanging. It was several
minutes before someone managed to catch the dog. Then we put my
handkerchief through its collar and moved off once more, with the
dog still straining and whimpering.

It was about forty yards to the gallows. I watched the bare brown
back of the prisoner marching in front of me. He walked clumsily
with his bound arms, but quite steadily, with that bobbing gait of the
Indian who never straightens his knees. At each step his muscles slid
neatly into place, the lock of hair on his scalp danced up and down,
his feet printed themselves on the wet gravel. And once, in spite of
the men who gripped him by each shoulder, he stepped slightly aside
to avoid a puddle on the path.

It is curious, but till that moment I had never realized what it

means to destroy a healthy, conscious man. When I saw the prisoner
step aside to avoid the puddle, I saw the mystery, the unspeakable
wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide. This man was
Essay III 213
not dying, he was alive just as we were alive. All the organs of his
body were working — bowels digesting food, skin renewing itself,
nails growing, tissues forming — all toiling away in solemn foolery.
His nails would still be growing when he stood on the drop, when he
was falling through the air with a tenth of a second to live. His eyes
saw the yellow gravel and the grey walls, and his brain still
remembered, foresaw, reasoned — reasoned even about puddles. He
and we were a party of men walking together, seeing, hearing, feeling,
understanding the same world; and in two minutes, with a sudden
snap, one of us would be gone — one mind less, one world less.

The gallows stood in a small yard, separate from the main

grounds of the prison, and overgrown with tall prickly weeds. It was
a brick erection like three sides of a shed, with planking on top, and
above that two beams and a crossbar with the rope dangling. The
hangman, a grey-haired convict in the white uniform of the prison,
was waiting beside his machine. He greeted us with a servile crouch
as we entered. At a word from Francis the two warders, gripping the
prisoner more closely than ever, half led, half pushed him to the
gallows and helped him clumsily up the ladder. Then the hangman
climbed up and fixed the rope round the prisoner's neck. We stood
waiting, five yards away. The warders had formed in a rough circle
round the gallows. And then, when the noose was fixed, the prisoner
began crying out on his god. It was a high, reiterated cry of ‘Ram!
Ram! Ram! Ram!’, not urgent and fearful like a prayer or a cry for
help, but steady, rhythmical, almost like the tolling of a bell. The dog
answered the sound with a whine. The hangman, still standing on the
gallows, produced a small cotton bag like a flour bag and drew it
214 Essay III
down over the prisoner's face. But the sound, muffled by the cloth,
still persisted, over and over again: ‘Ram! Ram! Ram! Ram! Ram!’

The hangman climbed down and stood ready, holding the lever.
Minutes seemed to pass. The steady, muffled crying from the
prisoner went on and on, ‘Ram! Ram! Ram!’ never faltering for an
instant. The superintendent, his head on his chest, was slowly poking
the ground with his stick; perhaps he was counting the cries, allowing
the prisoner a fixed number — fifty, perhaps, or a hundred. Everyone
had changed colour. The Indians had gone grey like bad coffee, and
one or two of the bayonets were wavering. We looked at the lashed,
hooded man on the drop, and listened to his cries — each cry another
second of life; the same thought was in all our minds: oh, kill him
quickly, get it over, stop that abominable noise!

Suddenly the superintendent made up his mind. Throwing up his

head he made a swift motion with his stick. ‘Chalo!’ he shouted
almost fiercely.

There was a clanking noise, and then dead silence. The prisoner
had vanished, and the rope was twisting on itself. I let go of the dog,
and it galloped immediately to the back of the gallows; but when it
got there it stopped short, barked, and then retreated into a corner of
the yard, where it stood among the weeds, looking timorously out at
us. We went round the gallows to inspect the prisoner's body. He was
dangling with his toes pointed straight downwards, very slowly
revolving, as dead as a stone.

The superintendent reached out with his stick and poked the bare
body; it oscillated, slightly. ‘He's all right,’ said the superintendent.
Essay III 215
He backed out from under the gallows, and blew out a deep breath.
The moody look had gone out of his face quite suddenly. He glanced
at his wrist-watch. ‘Eight minutes past eight. Well, that's all for this
morning, thank God.’

The warders unfixed bayonets and marched away. The dog,

sobered and conscious of having misbehaved itself, slipped after
them. We walked out of the gallows yard, past the condemned cells
with their waiting prisoners, into the big central yard of the prison.
The convicts, under the command of warders armed with lathis, were
already receiving their breakfast. They squatted in long rows, each
man holding a tin pannikin, while two warders with buckets marched
round ladling out rice; it seemed quite a homely, jolly scene, after the
hanging. An enormous relief had come upon us now that the job was
done. One felt an impulse to sing, to break into a run, to snigger. All
at once everyone began chattering gaily.

The Eurasian boy walking beside me nodded towards the way

we had come, with a knowing smile: ‘Do you know, sir, our friend
(he meant the dead man), when he heard his appeal had been
dismissed, he pissed on the floor of his cell. From fright. — Kindly
take one of my cigarettes, sir. Do you not admire my new silver case,
sir? From the boxwallah, two rupees eight annas. Classy European
style.’

Several people laughed — at what, nobody seemed certain.

Francis was walking by the superintendent, talking garrulously.

‘Well, sir, all hass passed off with the utmost satisfactoriness. It wass
all finished — flick! like that. It iss not always so — oah, no! I have
216 Essay III
known cases where the doctor wass obliged to go beneath the
gallows and pull the prisoner's legs to ensure decease. Most
disagreeable!’
‘Wriggling about, eh? That's bad,’ said the superintendent.

‘Ach, sir, it iss worse when they become refractory! One man, I
recall, clung to the bars of hiss cage when we went to take him out.
You will scarcely credit, sir, that it took six warders to dislodge him,
three pulling at each leg. We reasoned with him. “My dear fellow,”
we said, “think of all the pain and trouble you are causing to us!” But
no, he would not listen! Ach, he wass very troublesome!’

I found that I was laughing quite loudly. Everyone was laughing.

Even the superintendent grinned in a tolerant way. ‘You'd better all
come out and have a drink,’ he said quite genially.
‘I've got a bottle of whisky in the car. We could do with it.’

We went through the big double gates of the prison, into the
road. ‘Pulling at his legs!’ exclaimed a Burmese magistrate suddenly,
and burst into a loud chuckling. We all began laughing again. At that
moment Francis's anecdote seemed extraordinarily funny. We all had
a drink together, native and European alike, quite amicably. The dead
man was a hundred yards away.
1931

Who is George Orwell?

George Orwell is the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair (1903 –1950).
He is an English novelist and literary critic. His two most famous
novels are Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). He
Essay III 217
was born in India and was a policeman in Burma. He was later
educated in England and began writing career as George Orwell.

What happens in “A Hanging”?

Some critics classified “A Hanging” as an essay and others described
it as a short story because it is fictitious rather than an account of a
real event. It was first published in Adelphi magazine in 1931 and it
was based on his experience in Burma where he worked as a
policeman. The beginning is a description of hanging a condemned
man one morning in Burma. The superintendent of the jail is
impatient and wants the hanging process to end so that the other
prisoners can have breakfast. Francis, a Dravidian (a man belonging
to race from south Asian people living in India and other nearby
countries), is the head jailor who is in charge.

There are three significant incidents that Orwell describes while the
prisoner is taken from his cell to the gallows. The first is how the
condemned man is chained although he is not resisting. The second is
that of a stray dog who delays the procession and tries to lick the
prisoner. The prison warden catches the dog in order to proceed. The
third one is when the prisoner steps aside to avoid “a puddle on the
path.” The leads Orwell to reflect on the fact that they are executing
someone who is in the prime of life, someone who is healthy and aware
of what is happening. At the gallows, the prisoner cries out to God
saying “Ram! Ram! Ram!” The execution takes place.
Once the hanging is over, the men go back, and on the way the head
jailor tells them two stories: one about a hanging during which the
doctor pulled the legs of a prisoner to make sure that he died and
another a prisoner who resisted leaving the cell to go to the gallows. The
218 Essay III
men laugh hysterically the superintendent gives them a drink. Orwell
concludes by saying that the ‘dead man was a hundred yards away.

Critical Thinking Questions: Provide evidence from the story

and analyze the evidence.
1. Clearly this work of art introduces Orwell’s point of view
about capital punishment. How far is this narrative against
capital punishment?

2. How far does this story provide evidence that Orwell is

against imperialism?

3. What is the purpose of the dog incident from your point of view?

4. From your point of view why did Orwell not to the reader
what the man’s crime is?

5. Why does Orwell tell the reader that the prisoner did not want
to get his shoes dirty? Is this human nature? Is this a subtle
reminder that the man who will be executed is alive and well
before they kill him?

6. How far are the characters in the story “good” people?

7. How do the details reveal human character?

8. How would you as a writer describe the scene?

9. Why did the prisoner cry ‘Ram! Ram! Ram!’? Is he trying to

distract himself from what is going on? Is this a real prayer?
Is he trying to keep his mind occupied while the horrible
moment is happening?

10. Why was the superintendent poking the ground with a stick?
Was he counting the prisoner’s cries?
Essay III 219
Cultural Contexts: Egyptian Translators of
English Romantic Poetry
By Loubna A. Youssef

“Cultural Contexts: Egyptian Translators of English Romantic

Poetry.” Essays in Honour of Amin el-Ayouti. Cairo: The
Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts,
Cairo University, 2002.

Translation has enriched various fields, but not until recently has it
become a rich one in its own right. What in the past was the act of
translation is at present the art of translation. This signifies that the role
of the translator has changed from one who was at one point identified
as a transcriber, to one who is more assertive, but does not receive the
credit he deserves. Today, however, he is established as the creator of
a work of art. Since this essay is not a study of the history or theory of
translation, it will suffice here to say that although this is a field with a
long history that goes back to the ancient Egyptians and later the
Greco-Roman era when, with reference to translation, Cicero
expressed his concern in ideas rather than stylistic considerations, and
Saint Jerome’s translation of the Greek Bible into Latin freely
exploited the original to produce a text that was linguistically
enriching, it is only during the last two decades of the twentieth
century that translation theory has become quite popular.

Today, translation is not only a literary exercise “acquiring new

dimensions as a species of comparative literature” but a “cultural
exercise” (Enani. Foreword. ix, x). Scholars write about “different
220 Essay III
methods of translation,” “the problem(s) of translation,” “redefining
translation,” “approaches to translation,” “the science of translation,”
“the misery and splendor of translation,” “the task of the translator,”
“the translator’s responsibility,” “the invisibility of the translator,” to
mention but a few titles that indicate that translation is a painstaking
endeavor, to say the least. It is interdisciplinary and involves not
simply two languages, but two cultures and an intermediary.
Translators have to be "bilingual,…bicultural, as well as good
writers" (Massoud 313). This is why I believe that translating poetry
is a ‘triple labyrinth’ although Daniel Weissbort's book on
Translating Poetry has ‘The Double Labyrinth’ as the subtitle.

Schopenhauer would not approve of using the term translation

with poetry since for him “Poems cannot be translated, they can only
be rewritten, which is always quite an ambiguous undertaking” (4).
This idea of rewriting gives the ‘rewriter’ a great deal of liberty that,
nevertheless, ought to be bound by a sense of responsibility toward
the original writer and the reader….Venuti is more specific.
“Translation," he says, "is a process by which the chain of signifiers
that constitutes the source-language text is replaced by a chain of
signifiers in the target language which the translator provides on
strength of interpretation” (17). Two key words need to be
highlighted here. The fact that the translator is an interpreter implies
not only a reading or a thorough understanding of the text, but a
study of the culture and context within which the text was written
and knowledge of inferences of words and idioms in both the source
language and the target language. Using the word “strength”, Venuti
is accurate in stressing that this process is strenuous and requires not
Essay III 221
only proficiency in both languages, but an alert mind that makes the
right choices in order to convey both meaning and tone…

Egyptian and, in fact, Arab poets, critics and academics have

ventured into the ‘triple labyrinth’ of translating English romantic
poetry. Where? When? Why? To what effect? With what results?
What problems did/do translators face? Suggestions? Solutions?
Endless difficult questions need to be answered and it would be
presumptuous to claim that this scratches the surface. Even
compiling a comprehensive bibliography of the Arabic translations of
English romantic poetry is not easy. First, interest in western
romanticism started early on in the middle of the nineteenth century;
secondly, English romanticism is a vast field which includes the
verse and prose of the following major figures: William Blake (1757-
1827) who had his own personal mythology and symbolism,
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(1772-1834) who launched their own movement and the second
generation romantic poets, namely, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-
1822), John Keats (1795-1821) and Lord Byron (1788-1824).
Thirdly, and more importantly, until the middle of the twentieth
century there was no plan or pattern in choosing which poet or poem
to translate. The choice was mainly governed by individual
preferences and the translators published their work in any
publications that accepted it….

In this survey article, therefore, referring to three stages of

translating English romantic poetry into Arabic, I shall focus on major
twentieth century Egyptian translators of the major English romantic
poets, pointing out the main trends in handling such texts. In the first
222 Essay III
stage, both classical Arabic and English romantic poetry inspired the
poets of the Diwan school to develop a new theory of poetry. They
imitated, borrowed from, and/or translated selected English romantic
poems that each particularly admired. In this era, the contribution of
other Arab poets and critics will not be ignored. The second and third
stages witness the efforts of academics who have either worked on
translation during the different phases of their careers or conducted
research that contributed to the study of translation of English
romantic poetry into Arabic or both. The landmarks in the second
stage are the publication of Luwis Awad’s translation of Shelley’s
Prometheus Taliqan wa Adonais in 1947 and the serious efforts of
Abdel Wahab al-Messiri and Muhamad Ali Zaid in a volume
published in 1964 entitled Al- Rumantikiyyah fi al-Adab al-Englise.
One can also include here the publication of two Ph.D. Theses, one by
M. M. Abdel-Hai entitled “Tradition and English and American
Influence in Arabic Romantic Poetry”, 1976 and the other by Jehan S.
Rauf on “Shelley fi al-Adab al-Araby fi Misr” (Shelley in Arabic
Literature in Egypt, 1982). The third is a more mature stage that
carries us until today: the al-Messiri and Zaid 1964 volume was
revised and republished in 1979, and M. Enani, whose efforts in the
field of translation started in the 60s, not only introduced the modern
translation theories of the 80s and 90s to the Arabic reading public, but
also devised his own theories, and in so doing translated selections and
samples of English romantic poetry. Although this is not a study of
either the history of Arabic poetry or the influence of English romantic
poetry on Arabic poetry, but it will be necessary to shed light on these
issues. Writing and translating poetry in Egypt and the Arab world was
Essay III 223
influenced by politics, reading classical Arabic poetry, religion and
encounters with the West.

In the Arab world in general, and in Egypt in particular, politics

more than religion or social factors have had a profound effect on the
writing and translation of poetry. The Napoleonic invasion of Egypt
in 1798, and later the reign of Muhamad Ali from 1805 until 1849,
and the British invasion in 1882, brought Egypt in contact with
western culture and subsequently western poetry. The scholars who
came to Egypt with the Napoleonic army, the discovery of the
Rosetta Stone and the deciphering of the hieroglyphics, the
establishment of schools to supply the army with literate soldiers, the
missions sent to Europe and the expatriates who taught in local and
missionary schools, the use of the printing press and the spread of
newspapers and other publications, and the establishment of
academic institutions (one of which is the School of Languages
which became a center for translation) other than al-Azhar, led to an
interest in and an interaction between East and West. Translation is a
field that flourishes in such conditions, enriching both cultures.
Whereas during the renaissance, the west translated the works of Ibn
Rushd, Ibn Khaldun, al-Khawarizmi, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Arabi
and others, and in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, western
fascination with the east resulted in a boom in travel writing, in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries the Arab thinkers read and
translated the scientific and literary works of the west. Hasan al-
Attar (1766-1835), the poet who became the rector of al-Azhar
“comments on French poetry [with] the pride of a Muslim scholar in
Arabic poetry” (Moreh. Modern Arabic Poetry 14). His student, the
224 Essay III
enlightened Shaikh Rifa’a Rafi al-Tahtawi (1801-1873), who was
educated both at al-Azhar and in France, left his imprint on Egyptian
culture and on Arabic literature through both his book Takhlis al-
Ibriz fi Talkhis Bariz (1823) and his role as the first principal of the
School of Languages which encouraged translation. This book,
which introduces French liberal thought, includes the first specimens
of the adaptations rather than translations of French verse into
Arabic. What is significant at this stage is not the accuracy or quality
of such adaptations but the heralding of a movement that regarded
translation as an art: Fann al-targama, he already called it (1)….

Following what is known as the Age of Decadence in Arabic

poetry, the neoclassical movement was initiated by Mahmmud Sami
al-Barudi (1839-1904), who developed his own style which rejects
affectation and aspires to refine taste through beauty and harmony).
He was joined by Ahmad Shawqi (1868-1932), who studied law in
France and is unanimously judged as the greatest, Mustafa Sadiq al-
Rafi’i (1880-1937), and Hafiz Ibrahim (1871-1932) in Egypt; the
Iraqis Jamil Sidqi al-Zahawi (d. 1936) and Ma’ruf al-Rasafi (d.
1945); Bishara al-Khuri (1890-1968) in Lebanon; and the Palestinian
Ibrahim Tuqan (d. 1941). In this era, the poets chose to write in the
classical form of the qasida with its monorhyme, two-hemistich
lines, embellishments and oratorical grandeur. They were inspired
by classical poets like al-Mutanabbi, abu-Nawas, and abu-Tammam.
Thus Arabic poetry managed "to take strength from its own blood,
from the particular attributes of robustness, polish and refinement
found in classical models of excellence [in order] to re-acquire the
terse, well-knit phraseology of good, wholesome verse" (Jayyusi.
Essay III 225
"Traditions and Modernity" 36).

The first half of the twentieth century saw a fascination with the
liberation spirit of French and English romanticism. The real turning
point in writing poetry occurred immediately after World War I when
feelings ran high and Egyptians made serious efforts to free their
country from the British. The 1919 uprising known as the Egyptian
revolution was a decisive event and between World War I and World
War II, the Arab romantic movement reached its peak. With the
verse and prose of the poets of both the Diwan school in Egypt and
al-mahgar in America, Arabic poetry went through a transformation
in both form and content, giving tidings to an even more mature
phase to follow: the fifties.

The second part of the twentieth century was a period of unrest

with revolutions and changes of governments. In this atmosphere,
such causes as nationalism, Palestinian rights, revolution and
communism led to the cry for iltizam (commitment), heralded by
Palestinian poets Mahmud Darwish (b. 1942), Fadwa Tuqan (b.
1917) and Samih al-Qasim (b. 1939). Life among the poor, freedom,
sorrow, anger, frustration, liberation, alienation, experiencing the
dilemmas of a period of transition, and being dominated by both
colonialism and social problems and taboos are themes in political
poetry dealt with by Badr Shakr al-Sayyab (1929- 1964), Abd al-
Wahab al Bayyati (b. 1926), Salah Abd al-Sabur (1931- 1982),
Ahmad Abd al Mu’ti Hegazi (b. 1935) and Muhamed Miftah al-
Fayturi (b. 1930). Nazar Qabbani (b. 1923) is another widely read
poet whose poems deal with social protest and political events. In
1946 Luwis Awad (1915-1990) first introduced the Egyptian reading
226 Essay III
public to modernist verse by T. S. Eliot in an article in Taha
Husayn’s literary periodical, Al-Katib al-Misri. In the following two
decades, there was a conflict between the early lure of romanticism
and the rising tide of modernism with translations made mainly of
modernist poetry. With Adunis (pseudonym for Ali Ahmad Sa’id, b.
1930), a different kind of commitment was encountered: in 1968 he
founded his own journal, Mawaqif, in which he advocated the need
for innovation, believing that the purpose of poetry is to use words
and images in a new way. In this era, poets were more influenced by
Eliot, Pound and Yeats rather than the romantics.

The First Stage

It was the 1882 British military invasion of Egypt that initiated
the interest in and the translation of English romantic poetry at the
beginning of the twentieth century. The irony is that during this
period of colonialism, it was English poetry that fed the Egyptians
with enthusiasm. Paradoxically, the translation of English romantic
poetry started with the birth of the nationalist spirit, as well as the
new surge of nationalism in the twentieth century. The rise of the
sense of modern Egypt, again paradoxically, came with the discovery
of ancient Egypt late in the nineteenth century, culminating in a long
remarkable poem by Ahmed Shawqi, entitled “Great Events in the
Nile Valley” (1895) and another by Hafez Ibrahim: “Egypt Talks
About Herself.” Both stress Egypt’s long and glorious history that is
older and greater than that of Greece, Rome and Arabia (Enani.
“Images of Egypt.” 53).

Egyptian poets were exposed to western poetry in the original

and in translation. Historians, critics and the Egyptian neoclassical
Essay III 227
poets themselves agree that it is through Francis Palgrave’s The
Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English
Language (1861) which was among the set books in the emerging
secular schools in Cairo and Alexandria that the poets of nineteenth
century Egypt were introduced to English romantic poetry. A whole
generation was brought up on Palgrave’s anthology as well as other
Victorian anthologies (Arnold’s Poems of Shelley and Poems of
William Wordsworth). The Victorian selection, which did not
include The Prelude or “The Lucy Poems”, but included “The Odes”
(which is a classical form and which reflected the positive Victorian
view of romantic poetry), aroused interest in individualism, the
liberation spirit, as well as the deep religious sentiments of the
romantics, however different they are amongst themselves….

The 1930s and 40s were the heyday of Arab romanticism. In

this period, poets and critics showed signs of a reaction against
neoclassical verse, and their writings were inspired by their own
beliefs and conditions. Being oppressed and suppressed by
colonialism, and desiring to be the voice of their age, the Arab poets
of this era called for freedom like their western counterparts. They
did so with great pride in their tradition and in Arabic, being the
language of the Qur'an. Their poetry was subjective and a sincere
expression of feelings (sha'ir, the Arabic word for poet literally
means the one who feels) and opinions, which is what the western
romantics advocated. Both critics and poets developed a tradition in
which the link between poetry and objective truth was severed and
deceit became dissociated from any sense of morality. It is also
necessary to add that the pre-Islamic idea of the poet as a ‘seer’ (2),
228 Essay III
who could blend the imaginary and the real, continued to be popular
among Muslim poets and is again quite similar to the English
romantic notion that the poet is a prophet with a sense of
imagination. These ideals, which are similar to those of English
romanticism, were vigorously advocated in Egypt by members of the
Diwan group: Abbas Mahmud al-Aqqad (1889-1964), Ibrahim Abd
al-Kader al-Mazini (1880-1949) and Abd al-Rahman Shukri who
studied at Sheffield between 1909 and 1911 (1886-1958), Ahmad
Zaki Abu Shadi (1892-1955), Ibrahim Nagi (1898-1953), Ali
Mahmud Taha (1902-1934) and others; in Tunisia by Abu al-Qasim
al-Shabbi (1909-1934); in Lebanon by Khalil Mutran (1872-1949)
although not so much in his poetry as in his writings about poetry;
and by the poets of al-mahjar (the émigré school as the Syrian and
Lebanese immigrants of America are called) namely, Khalil Jubran
(1883-1931), Mikha’il Nu’ayma (b. 1889), Iliyya Abu Madi (1886-
1957), and others.

The goal of Egyptian and Arab poets in this phase was to 'revive'
Arabic poetry and this is why they were seeking inspiration in every
possible way. Religion contributed to this revival. Because Islam has
been dominant in the Arab world since the seventh century not
simply as a religion but as a way of life, and because of the belief
that Arabic is a sacred language being the language of the Qur’an,
the other interaction which enriched Arabic poetry is the one between
the Muslim poets of Egypt and the Christian Lebanese and Syrian
poets in their home towns, in Egypt or in al-mahjar. Ahmad Zaki
Abu-Shadi (1892-1955), the founder of the Apollo school in Egypt
which published the Apollo magazine in 1932-1934, received and
Essay III 229
accepted contributions from numerous Egyptians and Arabs, praised
Mutran and mahjar poets and called for cooperation in order to
develop Arabic poetry. Escaping suppression and persecution, the
Lebanese Mutran came and settled in Egypt in 1892 and actively
took part in the literary scene through his poetry, his journalistic
articles in al-Ahram, al-Mu’ayyad, al-Watan, and al-Liwa, his
translations of Shakespeare, Corneille, Hugo and others, and through
his activities in the theatre. He composed poetry in new forms
(narrative poems and dramatic monologues) about new themes using
fresh imagery and diction conveying intense emotions which show
the effect of French romanticism….

Unlike Mutran, al-Aqqad and mahjar poets read the English

romantic poets. Al-Aqqad admired their sincerity, simplicity,
seriousness and attacked French sentimentality (3). Nu’ayma, a mahjar
poet and a member of al-Rabita al-Qalamiyya (the Pen Association
established in New York in 1920 with Jubran as chairman), was more
interested in the mystical rather than in “the spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings”, and was a follower of Coleridge rather than
Wordsworth. Supported by al-Aqqad, Nu’ayma helped bridge the gap
between the Diwan school and the mahjar group. Like Nu’ayma,
Iliyya abu-Madi was Lebanese by birth, emigrating to Egypt in 1900
and then to North America. He became a leading member of the Pen
Association when it was formed. Starting off as a neoclassicist in
Egypt, his experience in al-mahjar made him quite meditative, writing
recollections which are clearly romantic.

Al-Aqqad, al-Mazini and Shukri in Egypt and al-mahgar poets in

America began the trend of writing poetry with a personal tone (4).
230 Essay III
True, these poets read the Arabic classics and were inspired by them,
but they experimented with European themes and imitated western
genres. Critics seem to have repeatedly stressed that the problem that
is immediately apparent is that the Arab poets of this era, torn
between translation and imitation, resorted to borrowing, whether
consciously or unconsciously, and attacked one another when they
discovered such instances. The truth is, however, that the Arab poet
succeeded in "assimilating, transforming and reproducing in his own
language a trend existing in a different language" (Jayyusi. Trends.
57). Even when the Arab poet does copy or imitate, this is done in
such a way that the content, tone, and mood are different and,
therefore, not a replica of the original. Read on its own, the Arabic
poem is totally different and is replete with what Enani calls
"comparative moments"….

Clearly, the situation in Egypt and the Arab world was different
from that of Greece and Rome. Because Egyptian poets were
suffering from a state of stagnation they read English romantic poetry
which exposed them to fresh themes and images. “Producing free
translations of English romantic poetry and attributing them to
himself” (Moreh. Modern Arabic Poetry 3), al-Mazini admitted that
Shelley and others influenced him (5). When Shukri, who himself
imitates Shelley but does not say so, accuses al-Mazini of plagiarism,
al-Mazini defends himself by saying that this is because he is an avid
reader with a bad memory. Although plagiarism, which is known as
sariqa (theft), did not have disreputable connotations and gave way to
the idea of ‘taking over’, this incident affected al-Mazini and
Shukri’s friendship…..
Essay III 231
The Second Stage
The first encounter between Arabs and the west occurred when the
Arabs had just started to recover from a dormant state during which
they were controlled by the Mamelukes and Ottomans who had stifled
any possibility of self-expression. At the end of the nineteenth century
and the beginning of the twentieth, the leaders of social reform in the
Arab world had both the urge to improve social and political
conditions and the need to search for an identity. This is why western
romanticism was an appropriate starting point. Being based on
spontaneous emotions and simplicity, western romanticism was
immediately appealing though not easy to grasp for the Arab poets
who belonged to a culture that is steeped in religion and traditions. The
romantic call for liberty and the importance of the imagination are
ideals that helped them free themselves from the chains of
classicism/neoclassicism and colonialism. Since the individual, rather
than the society, is the focus of romantic poetry, interest in
romanticism declined in the middle of the twentieth century.

In a society governed by change and revolution, writing and

translating lyrics about rustic life, passion and the great charm and
beauty of nature are themes that were looked down upon and
regarded as immature. The harsh social and political conditions gave
rise to realistic expressions of torment and turmoil that are an echo of
what Arab society was suffering from. In the field of the novel,
Naguib Mahfuz wrote about socio-political problems…. Poets were
called upon to write poetry that stems from and expresses the needs
of the people in order to play an active role in raising the reader’s
awareness on the social, political and intellectual levels.
232 Essay III
Commitment (iltizam) in writing literary works that inspire and
mobilize Arabs to liberate themselves from backwardness, poverty
and imperialism became the goal of all patriots. The emphasis in this
stage, therefore, is on content rather than on form….

In 1947, Luwis Awad, the prominent Egyptian intellectual, critic,

writer and one time chairman of the Department of English Language
and Literature in Cairo University, published two volumes: Plutoland
and Other Poems (in which he tried to write colloquial poetry which
was not regarded as a serious literary exercise) with an introduction
encouraging poets to write about real problems and real
people….Awad also gives the reader information about Greek
mythology in order to introduce Prometheus and Adonais. Prometheus
Taliqan and Adonais is the result of years of research in England. It
was very well received in Egypt although it was published in 1947
when Shelley’s popularity in the Arab world was in a state of decline.
Shelley who was being attacked as a poet in an ivory tower is
defended by Awad who says that this lyrical drama in four acts will
prove otherwise. Choosing two heroic characters, Prometheus and
Adonais, for the Arab reader in the middle of the twentieth century is
not accidental on the part of a teacher whose ultimate goal is to
educate and stimulate the minds of his students/readers. Believing that
he had a mission to impart to his countrymen what he acquired during
his stay in the west, and desiring to live in an Egypt that was free,
Awad focused on two different heroes who could, each in his own
way, inspire youth to act. Prometheus is subjected to perpetual torture
but does not give in. He is characterized by strength, courage in
fighting injustice and the ability to resist evil and hate.
Essay III 233
The creation and the portrayal of a “man” proves Shelley’s
awareness of and concern with the social realities of his time. And
reproducing this to the Arabic reader indicates that Luwis Awad
believed that this was what Arabs needed. But why Adonais? When
John Keats died, Shelley was deeply moved by the death of such a
genius at the age of twenty six. In “An Elegy on the Death of John
Keats” (1821), one of the best elegies in the history of English
poetry, Shelley depicts the mourners paying tribute to the platform of
Adonais….. Now, how is/was all this relevant in Egypt or the Arab
world? Not that this elegy is meant to allude to the death of any
particular poet, but the translation of a work in which the poet is a
hero reflects the growing interest in poetry, and that the death of a
poet ought to be dealt with on a large scale to correspond with his
central role in society. Showing that the depth of Shelley’s sorrow
stems from the fact that instead of being honored by society, Keats
was harshly criticized, an event that hastened his death, this Elegy
ends with a declaration that such a genius is immortal.

Bringing Prometheus and Adonais together in one volume, Luwis

Awad was indirectly describing the leader that the Arab world needed
at the time: the promethean poet. Badawi outlines his qualities of the
poet as being those of “the hero, the saviour, and the redeemer.” ….
Since these were the ideas advocated at the time, Awad’s purpose
becomes obvious. Translating a poem about a champion who suffered
such agony yet was strong enough to succeed in stealing fire from the
gods to help mankind, and who is responsible for teaching humanity
many arts, was meant to convey a message to the reader: freedom
cannot be achieved without a fierce battle. If Prometheus is fictitious,
234 Essay III
Keats is real. The two poems together in one volume can easily lead
the reader to deduce that Promethean figures do indeed exist, but they
are either silenced or killed.

Arab critics believe that Shelley was the most popular poet after
Shakespeare in the Arab World. Abu Shadi, Ibrahim Nagi, Muhamad
Al-Hamshari, Ali Mahmud Taha, Mukhtar Al-Wakil, Nazmi Khalil
and others translated one poem or another….. Shelley's "To a Skylark"
was translated 17 times. Arab poets are indebted to Shelley, but the
assessment of this debt has not been dealt with in depth yet…..

The Third Stage

In the past three decades, translation theory and practice has
flourished in Egypt and in the world. Institutes and individuals in
Egypt have introduced Egyptian writers to the world and brought the
ideas of the world home. The Department of Culture in the Ministry
of Education, the Ministry of Culture, GEBO, the Department of
English at Cairo University, and the American University in Cairo
organize conferences and workshops and publish translations in
various specializations. Other Arab countries like Lebanon, Iraq,
Kuwait and others are also contributing in this direction. Although
not on a national scale, the translation of English romantic poetry
was carried out by individuals, each in his own way. Al-Messiri and
Zaid revised and republished the 1964 volume, and the dramatist,
critic and translator M. Enani devised his own approach….

Enani's contribution in translating English romantic poetry is

different. His post-graduate research is in the field of romantic
poetry, but he published full length translations of seven
Essay III 235
Shakespearean plays and the first six books of Milton's Paradise
Lost. Although he believes that "we may have as many
Shakespeares, Shelleys and Wordsworths as there are translators, as
many versions as there are linguistic communities in the Arab World,
and as many interpretations as there are generations of readers"
(Comparative Moments. 18), he does not duplicate the efforts of al-
Messiri and Zaid. Using different strategies in choosing what to
translate, he does not simply provide the reader with a translation but
with the theory, process and product. In his invaluable 'browser's
guide' Murshid Al-mutargim (Translator's Handbook), Enani
translates Wordsworth's "She is a Phantom of Delight" after
discussing the use of the key words "phantom", "apparition", "shape"
and "image" which create a picture that starts off as being a 'shadow',
a 'phantasy' and a 'ghost, but acquires shape in the course of the poem
(284-5). Practising what he preaches, his translated text is a record
of his interpretation of the poem (Comparative Moments. 7-8).

In Fann Al-targama (The Art of Translation), Enani devotes a

chapter to the translation of poetry (146-84). Before he translated
excerpts or discussed the translations of others, he pointed out that,
unlike English literature which has lyric, epic and dramatic poetry, in
Arabic there is only verse and prose. This important distinction is
meant to stress that in translating English verse into Arabic, the
translator must be aware that form is integral to meaning in the
English poem. Enani highly praises al-Mazini and the contemporary
translations of Zakher Ghobrial for adhering to the structure of the
original in translating lines from Shakespeare. Wordsworth's "A
Slumber did my spirit seal" is the poem that Enani translates in order
236 Essay III
to show how rhyme and meter could be emulated in Arabic. On one
occasion he directs the reader's attention to the necessity of inserting
a word in order to balance the lines to produce the musical effect that
echoes the English. The two other Wordsworth poems that Enani
refers to are "She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways" and
"Daffodils". He translates all the three stanzas of this "Lucy" poem in
order to illustrate that they are all bound together syntactically and
semantically. These are features in the English poem that must not
be ignored in the Arabic translation. When towards the end of the
chapter, he discusses how far the translation should be faithful to the
original, Enani only quotes the first four lines of the "Daffodils". He
gives three possible versions in Arabic, one is a word-for-word
translation, the second is a prose translation and the third has a rhyme
scheme and meter.

This is not all. Enani's Al-Targama A-adabeya (Literary

Translation) has a chapter on the translation of English poetry into
Arabic verse and prose. Throughout, he translates lines from
Coleridge ("The Ancient Mariner"), Keats ("A Thing of Beauty is a
Joy forever", Endymion, I,1 and "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"),
Shelley ("Lines Written among the Euganean Hills") and
Wordsworth ("Immortality Ode") to show how music contributes to
the overall effect of the translation. In his three books On Translating
Arabic: A Cultural Approach, The Comparative Tone and
Comparative Moments, it becomes clear that his translation of short
poems and his partial translations of English romantic poetry help
him to discuss his theory of translation and to clarify the difference
between theory and practice. His long chapter on "The Translator's
Essay III 237
Intuition Explored: An Approach to the Translation of Poetry" (109-
90), in his most recent book On Translating Arabic, he argues that
translation is not a process but many: one involves interpretation and
rendering, another involves intuition, and a third involves
deconstruction. In his first extended attempt to engage the reader in
the difficulties of translating Wordsworth, he tackles Wordsworth's
superficially 'simple' and short poem "Rainbow". The conclusion
becomes straightforward: "There is no such thing as an 'easy'
poem…and its translation [is] far from 'easy' " (139). He then focuses
on passages from Wordsworth's The Prelude as "a test case" for a
translation that makes use of these processes all at once. Obviously,
Wordsworth is his favorite.

One more point deserves attention here: in taking the reader by

the hand, Enani establishes links between poetry, translation, critical
theory, culture, and literary criticism. His theory of the "comparative
moment", he says, "could be seen as both deconstructive and
intertextual at once--as far, of course as the original works are
capable of this" (18). Enani applies his ideas not only to his own
translations and processes, but to the those of others. When he
comments on what he calls "the most influential Arabic version of
Shakespeare's lines": "The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd
throne/Burn'd on the water" by Luwis Awad, Enani gives concrete
evidence that not only did the writing of the original Shakespearean
play require creativity, but so did translating this work well and so
did commenting on the translation. In discussing the translation of
these thirteen words, Enani brings together Luwis Awad and
Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Coleridge and Blake, The Qur'an and the
238 Essay III
Bible, Eliot and Milton, Derrida and Saussure, the English, French
and Egyptian, and more (21-29).

The literary history of the Arab world reveals that the Arabs
have been writing poetry since the pre-Islamic era. The merit of this
heritage has not yet been studied in much depth. Although for
centuries they were exploited and exhausted by one foreign power
after the other, this did not curb the creative power of poets. Aware
of the grandeur of their past, they were able to survive and write. In
their process of 'revival', the Egyptian and Arab poets were
resourceful: even when they were inspired by French and English
literature they molded western ideas and forms to suit their
purposes…..There is a great deal to be said and done. True, a few
years ago, translation was the field "Where Angels Fear to Tread", as
Professor Fatma Moussa said. Not any more. Yes, scholars should
ask "who is translating what, for whom, when, where, why and in
what circumstances?" (Hatim and Mason 6), but in Egypt, even at the
level of the common man, there is a growing awareness that the
translations of Mahfouz led to the Nobel Prize and the efforts of M.
Enani deserved a State Prize.
Selected Bibliography
English

Abdel-Hai, M. M. “A Bibliography of Arabic Translations of English

and American Poetry (1830-1970).” Journal of Arabic Literature
Vol. VII, 1976. pp. 120-159.
…………. “Shelley and the Arabs: An Essay in Comparative Literature.”
Journal of Arabic Literature vol. III, 1972. pp. 72-89.
Essay III 239
…………. Tradition and English and American Influence in Arabic
Romantic Poetry. Ph. D. Thesis. Oxford: 1976.
Ayad, Hoda. "Al-Mazini's Translations of Some English Poems." Essays
In Honour of Angele B. Samaan. Ed. Hoda S. Gindi. Cairo:
Department of English Language and Literature, 1995.
Badawi, M. M. “Convention and Revolt in Modern Arabic Literature.”
Arabic Poetry: Theory and Development. Ed. G. E. von
Grunebaun. Wiesbaden, 1973.
………Ed. Modern Arabic Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1992.
………Modern Arabic Literature and the West. London: Ithaca Press,
1985.
Badawi, Mustafa. “Commitment in Contemporary Arabic Literature.”
UNESCO Cahiers D’Histoire Mondiale. Vol. XIV, no. 4, 1972:
859-79.
Bell, Roger T. Translation and Translating: Theory and Practice. London:
Longman, 1991.
Boullata, Issa J. Modern Arabic Poets: 1950-1975. Washington, D. C.:
Three Continents Press, 1976.
Brooke, Stopford A. Poems of Shelley. London: Macmillan, 1880.
Browning, Robert. Letters of Robert Browning. Ed. Thurman L. Hood.
London: John Murray, 1933.
Cachia, Pierre. “Introduction: Translation and Adaptation, 1834-1914.”
Modern Arabic Literature. Ed. M. M. Badawi Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Dryden, John. “On Translation.” Theories of Translation: An Anthology of
Essays from Dryden to Derrida. Eds. Rainer Schulte and John
Biguenet. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992.
Eliot, T. S. The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism. London: Faber,
1968.
240 Essay III
Elmessiri, Nur. "The Place of the Other: Radical Translation Theory,
Lacan, Kristeva, Benjamin." Proceedings of the Fourth
International Symposium on Comparative Literature: English and
Arabic Perspectives. Ed. M. M. Enani. Cairo: The Anglo-Egyptian
Bookshop, 1999.
Enani, M. Comparative Moments. Essays In Comparative Literature.
Cairo: GEBO, State Publishing House, 1996.
…….. The Comparative Tone. Essays In Comparative Literature.
Cairo: GEBO, State Publishing House, 1995
…….. Foreword. Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on
Comparative Literature: Translation. Eds. M. Enani and M. Abdel
Aatty. Cairo: Cairo University, 1999.
…….. “Images of Egypt in Modern Arabic Poetry.” Proceedings of the
First International Symposium on Comparative Literature: Images
of Egypt in Twentieth Century Literature. Ed. Hoda Gindi.
Cairo: Cairo University, 1999.
……..On Translating Arabic. Cairo: GEBO, 2000.
Hatim, B. and I. Mason. Discourse and the Translator. London:
Longman, 1990.
Hourani, Albert. Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age: 1798-1939. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1970.
Jayyusi, Salma. "Tradition and Modernity in Arabic Poetry." Tradition
And Modernity in Arabic Language and Literature. Ed. J. R.
Smart. Surrey: Curzon Press, 1996.
Khouri, Mounah A. Studies in Contemporary Arabic Poetry and Criticism.
Piedmont, CA. : Jahan Book Co., 1987.
Makar, Ragai. Modern Arabic Literature: A Bibliography. London: The
Scarecrow Press, 1998.
Massoud, Mary. "Problems of Translation." Proceedings of the Second
International Symposium on Comparative Literature: Encounters
Essay III 241
In Language and Literature. Hoda Gindi. Cairo: University of
Cairo, 1993.
Moreh, S. Modern Arabic Poetry: 1800-1970. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1976.
……...“The Neoclassical Qasida: Modern Poets and Critics.” Arabic
Poetry: Theory and Development. Ed. G. E. von Grunebaun.
Wiesbaden, 1973.
……..Studies in Modern Arabic Prose and Poetry. Leiden: E. J. Brill,
1988.
Moussa, Fatma. "Where Angels Fear to Tread. " Proceedings of the Fifth
International Symposium on Comparative Literature: Translation.
Eds. M. Enani and M. Abdel Aatty. Cairo: Cairo University,
1999.
Nicholson, Reynold. (1907). A Literary History of the Arabs. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1966.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. “On the Problem of Translation”. Trans. Peter
Mollenhauer. Theories of Translation: An Anthology of Essays
from Dryden to Derrida. Eds. Rainer Schulte and John Biguenet.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992.
Ostle, R. C. “The Romantic Poets.” Modern Arabic Literature. Ed. M. M.
Badawi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Paz, Octavio. “Translation: Literature and Letters.” Trans. Irene del
Corral. Theories of Translation: An Anthology of Essays from
Dryden to Derrida. Eds. Rainer Schulte and John Biguenet.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992.
Palgrave, Francis. The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical
Poems in the English Language (1861).
Raffel, Burton. The Art of Translating Poetry. University Park:
Pennsylvania University Press, 1988.
Schopenhauer. Schulte. Trans. Peter Mollenhauer. Theories of
Translation: An Anthology of Essays from Dryden to Derrida.
242 Essay III
Eds. Rainer Schulte and John Biguenet. Chicago: The University
of Chicago Press, 1992.
Stetkevych, Jaroslav. The Modern Arabic Literary Language. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1970.
Venuti, Lawrence. The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation.
London: Routledge, 1995.
Weissbort, Daniel. Translating Poetry: The Double Labyrinth. Iowa City:
University of Iowa Press, 1989.
Yehia, Mohammed. "The Dialectic of Translation: The Case of Four
Hermeneutical Terms." Proceedings of the Fifth International
Symposium on Comparative Literature: Translation. Eds. M.
Enani and M. Abdel Aatty. Cairo: Cairo University, 1999.

Arabic
Al-Aqqad, A. M. Abir Sabil [Passer-by] (Cairo, 1937).
…….Diwan min dawawin Cairo, 1985.
……Motala’at fi al-Kotob wal-Hayah (Readings in Books and Life).
Cairo: 1924.
…….and M. A. al-Mazini. Al-Diwan. Vols. I and II. Cairo, 1921.
Awad, Luwis, tr. Prometheus Taliqan (Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound).
Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organization, 1987.
Al-Bustani, Sulyman. Al-Ilyaza. (Homer’s Iliad). Cairo: al-Hilal, 1904.
Enani, M. Fann al-targama (The Art of Translation). Cairo: Longman,
1992.
…… Al-Mustalahat al-adabeya al-haditha (Modern Literary Terms).
Cairo: Longman. 1996.
…… Murshid al-mutargim (Translator's Handbook). Cairo: Longman,
2000.
…… Al-Targama al-adabeya (Literary Translation). Cairo: Longman,
1997.
Essay III 243
Haykal, M. H. Percy Bysshe Shelley, a five-part essay which first
appeared in al-Siyasah al-usb’iyyah, Vol. IV, nos. 188, 189, 190,
192, 194, October-November 1929, and was subsequently
reprinted in Tarajim : Misriyyah wa gharbiyyah, Cairo (Matb’at
Misr), 1929, pp. 284-365.
Khafaga, M. Abdel Aziz and Abdel Aziz Sharaf. Apollo. Vols. I and II.
Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organization, 1998.
Khalil, Nazmi. al-Defa’a an al-Shir (Shelley’s Defence of Poetry)
Al-Mazini, I. A. al-Hilal (monthly) vol. XXXVI, no. 3, 1937: 276.
……..Diwan al-Mazini. Vols. I and II. Cairo 1913 and Cairo 1917.
Al-Messiri, Abdel Wahab and Muhamed Ali Zaid. Al-
Rumantikiyyah fi al-Adab al-Englise (Romanticism in English
Literature). Revised by Mustafa Badawy and Mahmud Mahmud.
Cairo: Mo’assasset Segel al-Arab, 1964.
…… Mukhtarat min al-shi'r al-rumantiqyy al-Englise. (Selections of
English Romantic Poetry). Beirut: al-Mo’assassa al-Arabia lil-
Drasat wal-Nashr, 1979.
Mutran, Khalil. Diwan al-Khalil. Vol. I. Cairo, 1902 and Vol. II. Cairo,
1948.
Nu’aima, Mikha’il. (1923). Al-Ghirbal (The Sieve). Beirut, 1960.
Rauf, Jehan S. Shelley fi al-Adab al-Araby fi Misr (Shelley in Arabic
Literature in Egypt). Cairo: Dar al-Ma’aref, 1982.
Shukri, Abd al-Rahman. Diwan Abd al-Rahman Shukri. Alexandria,
1960.
Al-Tabal, Gom’a. al-Resalah vol. IV. 154. 1936: 981.
Tahtawi, R. R. Takhlis al-Ibris fi Talkhis Bariz. Cairo: Bulak, n.d.
244 Essay III
TOWARD, AROUND, AND AWAY FROM
TAHRIR: TRACKING EMERGING
EXPRESSIONS OF EGYPTIAN IDENTITY

EDITORS:
EMILY GOLSON, LOUBNA YOUSSEF AND
AMANDA FIELDS

Recontextualizing Resistance. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge

Scholars Publishing, 2017.

http://www.cambridgescholars.com/download/sample/64115

PAPER BY LOUBNA YOUSSEF PP. 9-30

BALÃGHA OR RHETORIC?
THE LANGUAGE OF THE TAHRIR SQUARE
REVOLUTION

LOUBNA A. YOUSSEF

‫الشعب يريد اسقاط النظام‬

(The People Want to Bring Down the Regime)
—Street Chant Heard Throughout Cairo
during January 25, 2011 Revolution

The spectacular live scenes of the revolution of 25th January 2011, in

Medan El-Tahrir (Liberation Square) caught the attention of the world.
Faces and voices of men, women, and children, the colors of the
Egyptian flag, the slogans, chants, songs, art work and humorous
placards and sketches attracted poets, politicians, reporters, and tourists
to visit Tahrir. Portraits of the young martyrs that are seen in Egypt in
Essay III 245
every shape and size (on post cards and tee shirts, and on larger than
life posters) show recognition for courageous young Egyptian role
models that have lost their lives. The resulting collage has inspired not
only Egyptians, but millions elsewhere.
A question that has been raised time and again is: how will all this
contribute to the good of Egypt? The range of answers is vast and
unpredictable, but there is a positive spirit of change. Though it is
impossible to fathom the impact and repercussions of the revolution on
the future of Egypt, it is possible to sift through the variety of Arabics
employed on the Medan during the eighteen days that led to the fall of
the Mubarak regime to fathom how language contributed to the
relatively peaceful unfolding of the event. This paper argues that the
language of Tahrir was made possible by a paradigm shift that featured
a mergence of Arabic balãgha and western rhetoric to create a form of
communication that appealed to Egyptians and to audiences throughout
the world. The challenging question that this paper attempts to answer
is: what made the emergence of two different fields of knowledge,
balãgha and rhetoric, possible?

* * *

A few months after Mubarak stepped down, more has become

evident about the profile of the protesters in Tahrir and the identity of
the martyrs. They are mostly the sons and daughters of middle class
Egyptian parents who invested in giving their children an education.
Using the most up-to-date technology, these young adults agreed to
meet in the Tahrir to speak to the myriads of Cairenes that take nightly
strolls along an adjacent section of the Nile. When it became evident
that the protest was more than young adults criticizing the problems of
Egypt, many parents rushed to support their children. As parents,
extended family, friends and neighbors lined up to enter “The Republic
of Tahrir” from Kasr Al-Nile Bridge, young men who helped the flow
of the screening process warmly greeted them. Egyptians are known to
be warm and hospitable, but since when have they started standing in
line? Since when have the Egyptians become so organized? No one
huffed and puffed or shook their fists and shouted. When it was my
turn to go through the screening process, one polite, well-dressed
young lady in jeans and a headscarf, checked my ID, and apologetically
searched my bag. When asked why she was so rigorous, she said they
have to do the job efficiently, and to make sure there are no weapons on
246 Essay III
the Medan. Once in the Medan, even before 11th February, the spirit of
jubilation that swept the place was energizing. Touring the Medan, one
encountered friends, Egyptian and foreign colleagues, students, and a
host of faces, many of whom soon became familiar. Along with
members of the various economic and social classes, representatives of
the three migrations that have occurred in the last four decades were
represented: there have been migrations from rural areas to cities, from
Egypt to Arab or western countries, and from the crowded Cairo and
Giza to new gated communities on the outskirts.
It would be interesting to study how each of these waves plays a
different role in the way many Arabics merge when Egyptians talk and
write today. Because this is beyond the scope of this essay, it will,
however, be necessary to point out that in the Medan the protestors
spoke in the same voice, and the different forms of Arabic, namely
classical Arabic, Qur’anic quotations, Modern Standard Arabic, and the
Egyptian dialect, seemed to merge. Statements in classical Arabic like
‫(الشعب يريد اسقاط النظام‬The Egyptian people want to bring down the
regime), and ‫(الشعب يريد اسقاط الرئيس‬The Egyptian people want to bring
down the President), and later ‫(الشعب يريد اخالق الميدان‬The Egyptian
people want the code of ethics of the Medan), reverberated in Tahrir
Square and in the world on every TV channel, in every newspaper, and
on Internet sites like youtube.com and Twitter. National songs from the
1960s by Om Kolthoum and Abdel Halim Hafez were heard and sung,
and the following classical lines of poetry by Tunisian poet Aboul
Qassem Al Shabi (1909-1934) were recited everywhere,

‫فال بد آن يستجيب القدر‬ ‫إذا الشعب يوما أراد الحيــاة‬

‫وال بــــدّ للقيـــد أن ينكسر‬ ‫وال بـد لليـــل أن ينجـــلي‬

Should the people, one day, desire to live, fate will have to
answer their call;
The darkness of night will have to fade, and the chains will
have to break.

These lines which most if not all Egyptian children memorize in school
became the title of a Facebook group during the January revolution.
The emphasis on the “people” as the agent of change, and the
transformation that is inevitable when their will is mobilized, are
themes that the protestors needed to convey. The images of light
Essay III 247
replacing the previous pervading darkness and of a sense of freedom
after breaking the chains of bondage and fear were transmitted to
spread and dominate the Medan.
The youth who chanted the lines quoted above started the uprising
that became a revolution of the people. These protestors were the
residents of Greater Cairo, joined by members of the first group of
migrants who originally lived in the capital, but moved recently to
gated communities in satellite cities like New Cairo and New Giza.
Some maintain that the class of Egyptians, who have gardens and
swimming pools, try to seclude and detach themselves from what is
going on in the country. The January revolution has revealed that this is
not true. It is acknowledged that many of the youth who spent days and
even nights in Tahrir Square belong to this class. These youngsters, as
it has now become clear, are a force to be reckoned with. They are well
educated, skilled in using technology, and have experience in the job
market. TV talk shows have hosted their parents who told stories about
how they were summoned by their children to Tahrir to bring medical
supplies, food, and blankets. Professor of surgery at the Kasr Al-Einy
University Hospital, Tarek Helmy appeared on the well-known Mona
Al Shazly talk show to narrate the details of how his daughter, who was
among the young protestors, helped in establishing a hospital on the
Square. He confessed that his attempts to detach himself from what was
going on failed when his daughter cried for help when the protestors
were attacked with live bullets; and, then, once he got to the Medan, he
was impressed by how the youngsters managed the Medan, and stayed
on until Mubarak stepped down.
The second group constitutes migrants who have either gone to earn
a living in one of the Arab countries or in the west. They have close
inextricable ties with their hometowns, and visit Egypt often. Talk
shows have invited many of them who came to Cairo to especially take
part in the revolution. The most well-known is Wael Ghonim, the thirty
year old Egyptian computer engineer who was the head of marketing,
Middle East and North Africa at Google in the United Arab Emirates.
Because of his activism on Facebook and in Tahrir Square, he became a
celebrity overnight, occupying the top position of Time magazine’s list
of the world’s hundred most influential people. Other more prominent
Egyptians who belong to this group and have become inspiring icons
that are familiar to Egyptians everywhere, especially since they all
received their basic education in Egypt, are the Nobel Laureate Ahmed
248 Essay III
Zewail, Mohammad Al Baradei who was the Director General of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, Professor of Cardiothoracic
Surgery at Imperial College London, Magdy Yaqoub. Because they
appear on Egyptian talk shows often, and their pictures are published in
newspapers, their faces, voices, and achievements are public
knowledge. They have credibility that gives the young hope. Although
they have spent most of their lives abroad, they are often visible in
Egypt, and each in his own way, took part in demonstrating that reform
and development are possible. When they are interviewed on TV, they
invariably stress the value of team work and research, highlight the
names of prominent Egyptians in all walks of life who live in Egypt,
and express a willingness to support what they call the “renaissance” of
Egypt. They publicly convey admiration for institutions like the Library
of Alexandria, and for the efforts of figures like renowned professor of
urology Mohammad Ghoniem, and the pioneer in critical care medicine
Sherif Mokhtar in establishing and running The Mansoura Urology and
Nephrology Center and The Critical Care Center of Kasr Al-Einy
University Hospital respectively. Such heroic accomplishments in hard
times have created a spirit that excellence is achievable. The novels of
Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz, and of less famous but equally
revolutionary writers like Alaa Al-Aswany and Essam Youssef, convey
the message that change and progress are both vital and feasible. Films
like ‫( حين ميسره‬When it is Convenient) and ‫( حسن ومرقص‬Hassan and
Marcos), and miniseries like ‫( رأفت الهجان‬Raafat Al Haggan) and ‫التاريخ‬
‫( كما يجب أن يكون‬History as it Ought to be Written), to give but a few
examples, sparked a deep concern in national problems and shaped the
consciousness of Egyptian youngsters.
The third group is the largest in terms of numbers, and has
consequently affected the density of population and everyday life in
Greater Cairo (and other cities, like Alexandria). The major cities of
Egypt have received tides of rural migrants who left their land in rural
areas and moved to find blue-collar jobs and settled in urban areas. The
families that moved wanted nothing more than a job for a breadwinner
and a roof over their heads; and were, therefore, satisfied with living in
slums that sprawled. They have retained the same close ties with their
extended family, but have also started new patterns of social relations.
The parents of these families are often illiterate, but their children go to
public schools that allow them to be semi-literate. Movies, lyrics, and
music they can enjoy were created for them, and the Arabic used is the
Essay III 249
Egyptian colloquial dialect (generally known to be the easiest form of
Modern Standard Arabic). This is why it became possible for a man
who ironed clothes for a living like Sha’aban Abdel Reheem to emerge
as the voice of the people and a superstar almost overnight. His songs
can be heard in buses, taxis, weddings, and on cell phones. Movies like
“Al-Limby” series (the name of the protagonist echoing the name of
Edmund Allenby, a commander who led the British army in Egypt),
starring the comedian Muhammad Saad, address this audience, and
show that he is a box office hit. Unlike Saad, who is regarded by the
middle class as rather vulgar, Adel Emam, another comedian who
attracts similarly large revenues, plays the leading role in movies that
appeal to a wider public.
For 18 days in “Republic of Tahrir”, representatives of these three
groups coexisted and cooperated in harmony; and the discrepancy
between rich and poor, and Muslim-Christian tension did not exist. In
time, the investigations will determine who was responsible for the
thugs, the use of live ammunition, freeing prisoners, the burning of
churches and police stations, the withdrawal of the police force, and
more. What is remarkable from my point of view is the form of Arabic
used in the Medan; and the question is: why was it effective in
mobilizing the Egyptian masses, toppling the regime, and appealing to
the world at large? These young adults understand the value of both
form and content to get a message across. The short answer to this
question lies in the fact that the intensely rich and complex cultural life
of Egypt has equipped the young Egyptians with the various necessary
skills to persistently and successfully challenge a most stubborn
regime. Another dimension of the answer will come in the form of an
analogy between life in Egypt in general and the chaotic Cairene traffic.
Although the streets of Cairo are often congested, and there are no
lanes and stop signs, somehow Egyptian drivers miraculously manage
and the rate of accidents in the city is not high. Like the driver of a car
in the heart of Cairo, the individual in Egypt has to cope with an array
of variables. Whereas the variables in the case of the driver are vehicles
of different sizes, pedestrians, donkey carts, the risks of being on the
road and the traffic jams, the challenges, the individual is faced with
are socio-economic and demographic. This is all summed up in the
simple lyrics of a popular song by the Egyptian pop singer Ahmed
Adaweya in which he describes life in Cairo saying,
250 Essay III
Crowded, oh, it’s all very crowded, ‫زحمه يا دنيا زحمه‬
Crowed, and I lost sight of those I love, ‫زحمه وتاهوا الحبايب‬
Crowded and there’s no mercy, ‫زحمه وماعادش رحمه‬
Crowded like a Moulid, a birthday, without a host. ‫مولد وصاحبه غايب‬

The incremental repetition and the symmetrical structures in this

colloquial Egyptian Arabic extract are adorned with rhyme, exhibiting
all the balance required both in meaning and in tension, as well as the
typical rhetorical antithesis. The message here is obvious: life in Egypt
is unbearable and there must be a way out. The image of the crowds
that overwhelms these line can be seen everywhere in Cairo, often
referred to in Arabic as Misr, and alluding to the entire country. There
appears to be a series of complaints here: the crowds, the sense of
estrangement and isolation, the loved are nowhere to be found, the lack
of mercy, the assumption that there should be a Moulid, a birthday
celebration, but there is a sense of vacancy. This vacancy is sharp and
disturbing because of the absence of the host, in fact of the central
figure, or leader whose anniversary is commemorated. The suggestion
here is that a savior is needed.
The same local Cairene dialect is used effectively in another context
that is quite revolutionary in more ways than one for Egyptians. In his
novel Rob3 Gram (A ¼ Gram) which gives the drug addict a voice for
the first time in Arabic literature, Essam Youssef tells the story of
charismatic central character, Salah, who slips into addiction. Salah
speaks in the first person, and the shift in the novel from the narrative
mode in Modern Standard Arabic to dialogue using colloquial language
is cleverly employed. The dialect is local Cairene, and much of the
dialogue includes expressions of junkies. Youssef produced a text that
is, therefore, culture specific and the culture thus transmitted is class
and age specific, i.e. the language of the novel is used by a stratum of
the upper middle class young men and women in Egypt who are mostly
teenagers. This means that the writer is aware that using the language
of adults even in Egypt, even in the same social class, may not be as
successful. Although it is well known that the common Egyptian is not
a reader, and that the Arab culture is oral rather than literary, the book
sales of Rob3 Gram confirm that the number of readers is growing.
Youssef targets the middle class young adults, uses their language, and
seems to have hit a cord with them.
Essay III 251
At the beginning of the novel that covers a span of about ten years,
when Youssef draws a portrait of the members of Salah’s “gang”, he
said the following about one of them,

We all liked Hussein, but the one closest to him was Mido
despite their arguments about the Ahly and Zamalek teams. He
was generous within his means; because of his father’s death, he
had very little pocket money. He was kind and witty. He loved
beer and hashish, of course. After having a couple of puffs, he
would say,
Man! I’m stoned! I think I just smoked hashish!
Good morning sunshine. Cut the stuff and share it.
His love of history surfaced after he smoked a joint. He would
go on and on,
What are the causes of the “Delican” war?
Who is the leader of the “Delcanian” movement? Is it Tamer
Bey Delcan, Haytham pasha, or Mido, the Ahly fan?
Give reasons for what has led to the inner conflict among the
members of the Delcan group.
Explain clearly: why did Mido, the Ahly fan, betray Tamer
Bey Delcan? (9)

When young Egyptians read this, they easily identify with Hussein,
hear his voice, and capture the humor. The rivalry between the Ahly
and Zamalek soccer teams, the financial difficulties that result from the
loss of a father, the value of kindness and sense of humor, and the thrill
of smoking secretly are all too familiar. What is also funny is the list of
questions that are typical exam questions with a twist. The incongruity
of using typical history exam questions in classical Arabic like “What
are the causes of”, “Who is the leader of”, “Give reasons for”, and
“Explain clearly” with reference to an imaginary war, and a fictitious
movement, is comical. When he replaces the names of historical figures
with those of members of the “gang” and precedes these names with
colloquial titles like pasha and bey, this incongruity is highlighted.
Hussein is naughty, but bright and can make use of his learning in
cracking jokes. His interest in history and knowledge of both Arabic
252 Essay III
and English enable him to integrate a term he fabricated, Delican. In
this list of questions, he describes someone delicate, weak or fragile,
that is a “Pansy”. This kind of humor was obvious in Tahrir and the
inclusion of history as a field of study was mentioned in a banner
carried by a small girl. It said: “Mubarak: Go quickly: I will have to
study all these details in the history course next year.”
Another kind of parallelism can be traced between the language of
the protestors and that of the characters of A ¼ Gram. This might seem
farfetched since the protestors are serious, well educated, and patriotic,
whereas the characters in A ¼ Gram are spoilt, carefree, and
irresponsible since the novel focuses on addicts. Such a reading of the
novel would be ignoring many characters like Salah’s father and
mother, brother and twin sister, his female friends Mariam and Hala,
and male friends Mostafa and Fat-hy who are all models of propriety,
efficiency, and integrity. Salahs’ friends, who steal and lie, do so to
provide themselves with money because of addiction not because they
are evil. They have a sense of humor and are always polite and
respectful when they address adults. Like the protestors, Salah is
articulate when he expresses his demands in serious situations: to get
the Head of the Criminal Investigation Department to free his friend
’Atef who was arrested for drug using (86-9); to convince the Major to
give him a 24 hour permit to go home from the camp where he was
drafted (166-170). On both occasions, he achieves his purpose through
a straightforward expression of his purpose without fear, but also
without arrogance. Despite the fact that Salah becomes an addict who
hits rock bottom, he is never rude, and the readers live through detailed
accounts of experiences that demonstrate that he can be serious, a
faithful friend with a good heart, and a hard-working, conscientious
employee. When Salah is outraged because his honest, diligent
classmate and sincere friend, Fat-hy, had to join the Egyptian Armed
Forces in the war between Iraq and Kuwait, he writes a letter to
Mubarak and sums it up by saying, “Mr. President, the responsibility of
Fat-hy’s life rests in your hands.” (188)
The other group of characters that are well bred and worthy of
respect are the recovering addicts Salah encounters when he attends the
Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Amgad, Shady, Seleem, Tawfeeq,
Khaled, and Hatem are addicts who are sober, presentable, reliable, and
could have very well been among the protestors of Tahrir Square. In
one of the meetings, Hatem, who volunteers to be Salah’s sponsor,
Essay III 253
shares by saying,
What’s going on? Are we the ones who are addicts and sick, or
are people mad? Frankly, I don’t understand. The behavior of the
people on the streets is out of control. On the way I saw two car
drivers fighting. One of them cut off the other; how dare he?!
They were both wrong: one of them was in the left lane and
wanted to go right and the other was in the right lane and wanted
to go left. I was driving behind them watching a circus. Each
stepped out of his car and I said: “Here’s a fight.” I too stepped
out of my car to find two men, one was at least 60 and the other
was 65. I stood between them trying to calm them down. For a
quarter of an hour I kept repeating: “It’s alright, Sir; nothing
happened, Sir;” all in vain. What’s going on? What’s wrong with
these people? They are both weak and helpless. One of them
could have had a heart attack had he shouted a little. The people
on the street have to follow the Program. That would teach them
how to respect each other and they should follow Steps and
attend 500 meetings in 500 days. These people will drive me
crazy. (484)
With no illusions about himself, Hatem reflects on his condition as an
addict, and makes a general statement about Egyptians that is funny
and wise. In addition to being witty, this extract is critical of the streets
of Cairo, the tension people are suffering from, and the need for a
solution, namely to subject the Egyptians to a rehabilitation Program.
The imagery of madness, of a circus and a war are apt in alluding to the
many layers of problems that prevail. The protestors in Tahrir exhibit a
similar kind of humor and wisdom.
During all the phases of the revolution, what was most evident in
Tahrir was humor and wisdom. The imagery of madness, a circus and
war are ones that can easily be applied to challenges the Egyptians have
been living through, the eighteen days in Tahrir and elsewhere in Egypt,
and the struggle ahead. On many occasions these images overlap. For the
past two decades, rebels from all walks of life have complained openly
about corruption and the need for reform, and have consequently been
imprisoned. The real nature of the harm that has been incurred is
unfathomable, bordering on the ridiculous. The eighteen days in Tahrir
have already been depicted as a utopia, moulid, carnival, and/or circus,
but as involving a battle as well. Like a moulid, the revolution was born
254 Essay III
on 25th January in Tahrir, a site that has symbolic associations, being
embraced by the governmental administrative complex of the
Mogamma, the Omar Makram Mosque, the Arab League headquarters,
the Nile Hilton/Ritz Carlton Hotel, the National Democratic Party
headquarters (Arab Socialist Union headquarters at the time of Nasser),
the Egyptian Museum, a few blocks of residential buildings, and the
American University in Cairo, which overlooks the National Geographic
Society and the Shura Council. This focal space was claimed by the
protestors, lost in a battle with the police and state security forces, and
reclaimed after the people won the battle of Kasr Al-Nile Bridge in
which the police retreated. On another level, a new culture prevailed in
which there was a sense of freedom and bravery. This public space was
shared by men, women and children who were engaged in entertaining
spectacles. They took part in daily activities of eating, singing, acting,
folk music, mimicry of figures who were in power.
The slogans and placards in Tahrir reveal ingenuity. One placard
said: “Job Opening: A President for a Country Overlooking Two Seas,
with a River, Five Lakes, Three Pyramids, and a Square that
Accommodates 5 Million”; and others said: “Go, my arm hurts”, “Go. I
got married 20 days ago and I miss my wife”, “Game Over”, “The
Egyptians say: Goodbye Mubarak, and Mubarak replies: Where are
they going?” Many humorous messages circulated on cell phones after
Mubarak stepped down, one said, “A junkie asked another: what is
Facebook? The other answered: it is something they use to remove
presidents”, and another said “Egyptians now offer their services to all
nations: “Your dictator down in 3 weeks or your money back.”
A final important parallelism between the experiences of the young
adults in Tahrir Square as conveyed through language and those in A ¼
Gram is the process of discovery. In both contexts, the main characters
discovered that “Truth can be learned but not taught” (Berlin 772), an
important concept in western rhetoric. When the protestors created
groups on Facebook to encourage one another to meet in Tahrir Square
on 25th January, their plan was to call for reform not to force Mubarak
to step down. In time and after the loss of lives in Tahrir and elsewhere
although the demonstrations were peaceful, the demonstrators
discovered that they have a voice that can mobilize Egyptians from all
walks of life to join them. When about twenty million Egyptians took
to the streets of Egypt, Mubarak had no choice but to step down. Like
the bond in Tahrir between men and women, rich and poor, Muslim
Essay III 255
and Christian, there is a bond in the rehabilitation center in A ¼ Gram
between Muslim Salah and Christian Ameer. The dialogue provides
evidence that Salah and Ameer are not simply roommates or friends but
brothers. When Salah discovers and stresses the message of the novel
that “Brown sugar is poison” (33) and that “Brown sugar is deceptive”
(159), he asserts that although he was warned, the narrative shows that
he had to learn this himself. Like Berlin who explains that “Dialogue
can remove error, but it is up to the individual to discover ultimate
knowledge” (772), Salah, as a narrator with a message, has a clear
purpose: the correction of error. During the party the drug user might
be ecstatic, but the party ends tragically with an accident, an overdose,
or with the user in prison. Salah who lives through a long stage of
denial, survives and eventually becomes sober after a difficult journey
in the rehabilitation center. It becomes clear that Salah made every
effort to convince Ameer that hash is addictive, but comes to
understand and confirms that “Truth can be learned but not taught” and
“Dialogue can remove error, but it is up to the individual to discover
ultimate knowledge” (Berlin 772). The narrative confirms that the
experiences of Salah and Ameer can lead to the correction of error and
involves another possibility: hope.

Works Cited
Badawi, El-Said. ‫( مستويات اللغة العربية المعاصرة في مصر‬Different Levels of the
Contemporary Arabic Language in Egypt). Cairo: Dar El-Ma‘aref, 1973).
Berlin, James A. “Contemporary Composition: The Major Pedagogical
Theories.” College English. Vol. I. 44. No. 8. (Dec., 1982), pp. 765-777.
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~davis/crs/E398t/Jim%20Berlin--
Contemporary%20Composition.pdf
Enani, Mohamed, Comparative Moments. Cairo: State Publishing House
(General Egyptian Book Organization), 1996.
—. The Comparative Tone: Essays in Comparative Literature. Cairo: State
Publishing House (General Egyptian Book Organization), 1995.
—. On Translating Arabic. Cairo: State Publishing House (General
Egyptian Book Organization), 2000.
Halldén, Philip. “What is Arab Islamic Rhetoric? Rethinking the History of
Muslim Oratory Art and Homiletics.” International Journal of Middle East
Studies. 37 (2005), 19-38.
Youssef, Essam. Rob3 Gram (A ¼ Gram). Translated by Loubna Youssef.
Cairo: Montana Studios, 2009.