Season Of Migration To The North | Analysis

Season Of Migration To The North | Analysis Season of Migration to the North tells the story of Mustafa Saeed, a prodigy from Sudan who goes to study first in Cairo and then in London, where he hunts women but eventually falls for one himself. After a marriage consummated by violence and a prison sentence, he returns to Sudan, moving to a small village on the Nile, where he marries again and has children. He disappears mysteriously in a flood. Season of Migration to the North is complex, in its framing, in its episodic style, in its use of metaphor, and in the variety of material it canvasses. It touches on colonial arrogance, sexual mores and the status of women, the politics of independent Sudan, and more. There are lyrical fragments with no direct connection to the story, describing the rhythms of agriculture, travel along the Nile, a spontaneous night celebration by travellers in the desert, and so forth. And there are references to European novels about encounters with the exotic in Africa and the Middle East. Most of thi s is only hinted at, and never elaborated on, but there is enough here to keep students of post-colonial literature busy for a long time. Season of Migration to the North is short and immediate, however, and can be appreciated without any literary theory. http://dannyreviews.com/h/Season_Migration_North.html Most of the rest of the novel concerns his recollections of the exceedingly strange story that MS tells him a story which haunts and oppresses, yet also challenges him in terms of defining his own value system in postcolonial Sudanese society in the context of the new rulers of Africa, smooth of face, lupine of mouth, in suits of fine mohair and expensive silk (118). The life story MS had narrated began with the account of his (British, colonial) schooling, which had led him to the discovery of his own mind, like a sharp knife, cutting with cold effectiveness (22). So brilliant is he that from Khartoum he is sent to Cairo and then to London for advanced study here he is nicknamed the black Englishman (54). In British society he becomes a sexual predator, setting up as his lair a room seductively decorated with ersatz African paraphernalia. Englishwomen of a wide range of classes and ages easily succumb to and are destroyed by him. Three of these women are driven to suicide; while he eventually murders the most provocative of them, who had humiliated and taunted him before and also during their stormy marriage. This act (a sort of sex-murder) is in his own eyes, however, the grand consummation of his life: The sensation that I have bedded the goddess of Death and gazed out upon Hell from the aperture of her eyes its a feeling no man can imagine. The taste of that night stays on in my mouth, preventing me from savouring anything else. (153) Elsewhere MS says of this relationship that he was the invader who had come from the South, and this was the icy battlefield from which [he] would not make a safe return (160). On his return to the village, the narrator at last enters a secret room that MS had built next to his home a replica of a British gentlemans drawing room! Pride of place has been given to MSs painting of his white wife, Jean Morris. The room also contains a book, purportedly the Life Story of MS, dedicated To those who see with one eye and see things as either Eastern or Western (150-151). This brief account cannot accommodate the complicated structure, subtle allusiveness and richly metaphoric style of this difficult text, but may give some indication of its ironic (or sardonic) perspective and of its deep and lasting relevance to the political and cultural predicament of many Africans. Its demonstration of the harsh parallels between colonial racism and local sexism confirms that this text is, as Salih himself has stated, a plea for toleration at all levels. It is an unforgettable work. http://www.arabworldbooks.com/Readers2004/articles/tayebsaleh2E.html That being said, the second storyline, told by Mustafa, a stranger to the village, revolves around him using weak British women for sex and then leaving them so heart-broken they turn to suicide. While its easy to read this as a comment more on colonisation, I still felt uncomfortable seeing so many women reduced to objects or symbols. Since Mustafa was telling the story, though, I believe the objectification rested with him and his character, as opposed to Salih. This didnt necessarily make reading it any more pleasant, but it did justify it, for me at least. Can you sense the murkiness I feel on this aspect of the book? My wrestling with it made my experience of the book less enjoyable, but it didnt diminish the books worth in my eyes. I didnt feel a similar inner battle over the issues of colonisation raised in the book. Mustafa is the primary engine of this; he tells his story of being a smart, poor kid from Sudan who ends up going first to Cairo and then to London to become a fa mous economics professor who simultaneously seems to spend most of his energy sleeping with white British women. He basically learns how to turn British prejudices about the exotic to his advantage, and he talks about seducing girls with stories of imaginary animals running across the harsh, evocative landscape of his childhood. Throughout his narrative, hes portrayed as lacking something vitally human, a kind of warmth towards his fellow species that leaves him all cold intellectà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦as a young boy, he doesnt know how to connect with his schoolmates and doesnt even seem bothered by his friendlessness. And once hes an adult, while he must enjoy sex (why else seduce so many women?), he never feels any emotional attachment to the women, and I dont think he even sees it as a way to connect so much as a way to use and dominate. None of the women he encounters are ever shown as real human beings, although the only one to resist him does have more complexity about her than the o thers. As I mentioned in the above paragraph, its all too easy to read this as a metaphor for colonisation. But even while Salih is exploring this, he never makes it a black-and-white issueà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦nuances and complexities are explored, and he leaves up to the reader to try to figure out whats being said Your comments on Mustafas emotional coldness exploitation of white women even as theyre also exploiting him reminds me SO strongly of Ellisons Invisible Man, and the narrators conflicted relationship with white women in that novel. Like you with Season of Migration to the North, I was never sure how to feel about that aspect of the story, especially since I cant help locating the objectification with Ellison as well as his narrator. Complicated stuff. During the whole story I was anticipating a shocking twist at the end where we find out that Mustafa Saeed and the narrator are the same person. At the end of the book I noticed the narrator was swimming in the Nile river when he finally decides consciously on living, and that Mustafa Saeed had dissapeared earlier in the story while swimming in the Nile. This suggests possibly that they are the same character, although not clearly enough to leave me satisfied with such a conclusion. Over at wikipedia they must have had a similar idea, because they described Mustafa Saeed as the narrators doppelganger. Their explanation lead me to believe that maybe the narrator had came back so shook from his experience in the West that he didnt know if he wanted to live anymore, and so he had viewed himself in 3rd person through the character of Mustafa Saeed and then finally decided on living while swimming the Nile! NYRB Classics: Season of Migration to the North and Alone!  Alone! Font and Edna return to Egypt at the eruption of the Suez crisis, but Ram stays on in Britain, is ejected because his visa has lapsed, and then works for a period in a factory in Germany. He is afraid of seeing Edna again when he gets back to Cairo and he also avoids seeing Didi Nackla, a young Egyptian journalist who had later lived with them in London. There he had turned to Didi, despairing of Ednas feelings for him, and initiated a sexual relationship with her. Self-deprecating as he is, Ram allows us only glimpses of the actually hugely risky political business he is engaged in. He has been collecting evidence of the torture and murder of political activists in Egyptian jails, where (in a pattern typical of this society) wealthier or higher-class prisoners will not be subjected to such treatment. http://www.litnet.co.za/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?cmd=cause_dir_news_itemnews_id=51970cause_id=1270 England is leaving Egypt, finally, in 1954. The Egyptian army has overthrown the royal family and instituted a republican system that both embodies the nationalistic and progressive hope of many Egyptians, and also becomes increasingly repressive. The characters, Ram and Font, are Egyptians who are Anglophone and upper class, and so are out of touch with the new order. Ram is an educated, well-connected Copt, probably in his mid-twenties. His best friend is Font, another Copt. Ram and Font spent four years in England and are obsessed with English civilization and culture, but they also despise British colonialism and hypocrisy and they participated in guerilla fighting against the British during the Suez War. The Egypt of BEER IN THE SNOOKER CLUB is at a stage of political, economic, and religious uncertainty or indecision. One of the central issues of the novel is, What is an Egyptian? And the same uncertainty or indecision extends to Rams personal life: what to do with himself, whether or not to live attached to the purse strings of his rich aunt, whether or not to marry, and who? He has been educated in the British school system in Cairo, and dreaming of the mythical London of Piccadilly Circus and pubs, he and his best friends, Font and Edna, travel to England to experience sexual and political freedom and find as well dreariness and meanness and small-mindedness. There he and his lover, Edna, drift apart, and he returns to Cairo understanding that England has killed something natural in him. Sunday, May 20, 2007 How to be kind? And thoughts on Beer in the Snooker Club It occurs to me that people in England, at least, are starved of opportunities to be kind, to be useful. If one watches the eagerness with which people jump up on the bus when someone even approaching old age gets on, and the keenness with which a stranger directs you to the address you cannot find, or gives unsolicited advice in a shop, then one feels the terrible and unexploited desire to be good, when so many situations call for one to be cynical: critical and uncompromising for fear of being taken advantage of, being laughed at, being unnatural. Our suspicion is thus killing something in us, for it reveals to us day in, day out, the frightful, hard, trapped creature we have become, with our knowing faces frozen in a semi-permanent frown or sneer. On a suffocating coach ride, Bath-London, the hulking vehicle turned a difficult corner, and I observed from the window an elderly man making a signal to the driver that is was clear and safe for him to advance. It was a completely superfluous, foolish act, as red-lights prevented the other cars from advancing into our slowly turning rear end, but who amongst us would have wanted to shout out, what are you doing old man; there is no need for your help.? After I finished reading Beer in the Snooker Club by Egyptian writer Waguih Ghali, I lived for a long time with that book in my flat in Cairo overlooking the depressing Ministry of the Interior, and wandering the streets of downtown, burdened further with the thought of Ghali killing himself in the spare bedroom of British publisher, Diana Athill. I felt an immense sorrow that I could not fully explain by my own loneliness as a foreigner. Later I returned to the novel and considered Rams role in his own life, and found it an excruciatingly circumscribed and pitiful one. Ram, that narrator of Beer in the Snooker Club, born to a landowning Coptic Christian family, is the only son of the poor relative: his mother was widowed young and now relies upon the generosity with all its attendant obligations of her siblings. He has been educated in the British school system in Cairo, and dreaming of the mythical London of Piccadilly Circus and pubs, he and his best friends, Font and Edna, travel to England to experience sexual and political freedom and find as well dreariness and meanness and small-mindedness. There he and his lover, Edna, drift apart, and he returns to Cairo understanding that England has killed something natural in him. What Ram subsequently fails to do is to act out his compassion, and desire for other people. And this is during a period in Egypt, the late 1950s, post the 1952 revolution, when the young people are moving out of the spaces and roles formerly proscribed entirely for them by their parents, a corrupt elite and the British presence. Font a dogmatic Marxist, scornful of his privileged roots, adopts the garb and posture of a street vegetable seller. Ram, finds this absurdly and depressingly gimmicky just as the communism of Edna, an Egyptian Jew, and her incessant championing of the fellaheen leaves him cold. So, he reasons, to act righteously in the defense of the downtrodden, is to be a parody both of oneself and ones roots, and of those that one is claiming to stand up for; it is to proscribe who and what is authentically Egyptian and to disdain and reject everything even ones innocent childhood and everyone else that does not take this purging seriously. Ram does act briefly alone and secretly to send photographs to the newspapers that expose abuses by the government. But he jokes that for his pains the real risks involved, he prefers the idea of having gone to prison, rather than the heroic act of actually going. His potent hatred of his wealthy French-speaking familys disingenuineness, their greed and cowardice and sham magnanimousness, does not provoke him to act and speak upon any legitimised, public platform against both them and their class. Rather, Ram chooses to expose himself to ridicule and mere disapproval by performing apparently childish pranks pushing his odious American-educated cousin into the pool, making a scene at a society party. By making it impossible for anyone around him to consider his protests as serious and legitimate political acts, he can be disruptive and irreverent from within; but it is a lonely and claustrophobic role which engenders only greater cynicism and emotional numbness in the young man. As long as Ram divides his time between his politically committed friends and a depraved and decadent elite, he has only the rare opportunity to show kindness, for with the former he feels too self-consciously as if he is performing a political or social role, and with the latter in order to resist the powerful obligation upon him to be the good son, he can only be flippant naughty and rude. http://madny.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-to-be-kind-and-thoughts-on-beer-in.html there is this comparsion of the eastern culture vs the western culture that made the novel intresting to view from one point. ram the narrator is being confused by the two worlds that he has lived with, although he finds himself more with the western culture rather the eastern. I dont know whether or not he intended this, but I enjoyed his terse writing style. I also found it fascinating to learn that Egypt had its own lost generation. Some of the depictions of Cairo and its society and undoubtedly still true today, such as Gezeira Club, of which I am a member. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1231621.Beer_in_the_Snooker_Club?page=1

musical genres :: essays research papers

Music. Fascinating both by it’s diverse individual styles and the inevitable fusion of different genres which in turn have created other completely new and unique styles of music. Classical music is a perfect example. The earliest forms of classical music were composed in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and displayed a very complicated and sophisticated form of writing incorporating a wide range of instruments and used the principle of multi instrumentation which achieved a very full symphonic sound which in turn led to the creation of specially designed halls to facilitate the sound. The origins of the music were also diverse, many compositions having been written for the stage, composers such as ‘Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’ who is responsible for the remarkable musical compositions of ‘Swan Lake’ and ‘The Nutcracker’ wrote his music for Ballet in a style which was not only captivating and enchanting, but also told a story. T chaikovsky was not the only composer to do this, ‘Richard Wagner’ who was a composer of Opera’s also wrote his music in a style that told a story. Wagner changed the concept of opera by viewing it as a ’total art work’ He wanted the Conductor to control all the elements of the dramatic production and to put them to work in projecting the drama through the Music. In the same diversified way the composers of the time wrote for dances to be performed on the stage, others wrote for dances that were popular at the time, such as the waltz, in this instance Composers such as ‘Josef Lanner’ and ‘Johann Strauss’ gave the waltz a whole new life. With their compositions the waltz gained sophistication and superiority Along with a distinctly Viennese light-hearted spirit. But not all classical music composers wrote for the stage or even for dance. Some composed music for the things they felt were important. ‘Johann Sebastian Bach ’ was amongst this group, he was a very religious man who composed for the church, primarily, he was a man of God, and often he would concentrate on the depth of his religion and put it back into his music, as an intense personal statement of faith. But where Bach wrote for the church composers such as ‘George Fredric Handel’ wrote for the general public he was a man of the world who loved to travel and who put this across in his music. Handel’s compositions varied where some were simple others were a lot more vigorous.

Armour Garments Company (AGC) Essay

I. Central Problem AGC should find ways on how to revitalize the company from its steady slope into worse conditions. The circumstances of AGC tumbling downhill were already stacked against them; they just weren’t aware that their strategy during good market economy would not work well against harsh conditions, such as the competition boom and the fall of the undergarment market during the Seventies, which occurred simultaneously. Their condition became so bad their equity shriveled up to half of what it used to be. II. Statement of Objectives To earn back their customers from the competitors appeal as well as earn new ones To design ways to improve the earnings of the company To broaden the target market To use state-of-the-art equipment III. Areas of Consideration Competition is stiff Selling only to one merchandiser (Divisoria) Limited target audience Was not ready for market instability Dependent on company goodwill Production was not flexible enough to effectively craft high quality items Products were limited (white undershirts) Prices were not favorable to the company IV. Alternative Courses of Action (ACA’s) 1.) Sell some old equipment of the company and buy useful modern equipment. A. Advantages Greater possibility that the company can invest more flexible equipment for improvement of production in company. B. Disadvantages They will find a hard time disposing the old equipment due to its limited functions and the fact that it’s already old. 2.) The selling of goods should not be limited only to one place. A. Advantages Reach out to potential customers who do not frequent to Divisoria. Expand your target market. B. Disadvantages Will costs more expenses towards shipping, delivery and marketing. 3.) Advertise products in media and print. A. Advantages Create demand for their products. Procure product and brand awareness to the public. Name or brand recall. B. Disadvantages Incur expenses in marketing and advertising. 4.) Introduce products designed for women. A. Advantages Wider audience More customers Greater chance for profit B. Disadvantages Additional expenditures for research and design 5.) Give benefits to middlemen (merchandisers). A. Advantages Increase loyalty from merchandiser. Create a rapport between companies. B. Disadvantages Additional costs 6.) Create products that are trending in the market. A. Advantages More sales Larger target market Variety of products to choose from B. Disadvantages Higher cost in production. Higher risk of putting capital to waste. 7.) Retain â€Å"Blossom† in production. A. Advantages Helps the company to gain back profit. Provide lower class citizens with a selection of products. B. Disadvantages Brands Armour & Marca Troca will be further overshadowed. Less profit (same quality but at a lower price). V. Final Decision The final decision is to replace the old notions and infuse the new, while still retaining the quality of the product. Despite the immense hard work put into the company, changes will continue to occur, so a new life for the company would be better suited than if it were to continue its slow downward pace. VI. Detailed Action Plans The first thing that the business needs to do is replace the machines that manufacture their product. The machines are not only inflexible for making garments other than undershirts, but assuming from context; they are old, considering the company up to the liquidation proposition was twenty years old. Although it will need much capital to purchase these machines, in the long haul, it is an investment and it will help them broaden their product lines. A large chunk in the revision of plans situates in the products. In the past AGC, they only produced white undershirts for men. The next step is the development of their product lines. It may start with research on their current and their aspirant customers and products. Expanding the brands include introducing clothing for women, designing high quality and fashionable clothing, and making them in color. The gamble is high because the company has only ever excelled in manufacturing one consistent product, and expanding the product lines need much capital. Another good call for the company is to revive Blossom. That brand, with its good quality yet cheap prices caters to those of lower income levels, which is a potential market to sell to despite numerous competitors in the price war. And although brands Armour and Marca Troca would be overlapped by the potential success of Blossom, through expanding the brands would they be able cater to a different taste and therefore cater to a different audience. This way, the brands under AGC will not be directly competing for customers to buy them. Through good marketing and well maintained production, AGC can achieve high profits from expanding their line. Further action to broaden their target audience would be to advertise AGC. Its namesake and goodwill may definitely draw in crowds, but commercializing it in media and in prints will reach those who have not heard about the company and its brands. This creates demand for the product, and in turn, high sales. An influx of the new is not always a bad thing; it’s how you respond to change that counts. AGC still has some fight left and with the proper strategy and taking the right opportunities, AGC can still be able to bounce back and regain what was lost. Case Analysis 3-2: Armour Garments Company (AGC) The Armour Garments Corp. (AGC) was established in 1954 in the Philippines as a manufacturer of high quality undershirts. It had two popular brands, namely: â€Å"Armour† and â€Å"Marca Troca†. The company started out by copying popular styles and designs from Hongkong. The first ten years was quite profitable. The company grew from 25 workers in 1954 to about 250 workers in 1967. The company sells all of its products to wholesalers in Divisoria who distribute the product all over the country. The products are manufactured in white color only and are generally of superior quality being twice more durable than other brands in the market. Undershirts are worn as a matter of habit to avoid the direct contact of users polo shirts with the body. Product sales are seasonal. Business usually peaks twice a year: in June, with the opening of classes and in December, with the Christmas rush. In the mid 60’s more and more undershirt factories opened. The company faced serious threats in its operation since the Divisoria middlemen were not loyal to brands. All along, AGC was banking on its institutional pride and goodwill being the pioneer in the industry. While sales of the company did not decrease, it also did not substantially increase with the growth of the population. However, this did not bother management since the cash flow was good. No major investments were made during the period. It was business as usual so to speak. In 1971, the market for the undershirt suddenly took a downturn. It was no longer fashionable to wear undershirts. Moreover, more and more marginal factories sprouted up and were willing to compromise on price and payment terms with the middlemen. For the first time in its history, the company was astounded. It introduced a new brand â€Å"Blossom† which was of exactly the same product quality but priced lower to match competing products. It did not take long before â€Å"Blossom† was withdrawn from the market because AGC sold more of â€Å"Blossom† and less of â€Å"Armour† and â€Å"Marca Troca†. Having failed to improve the marketability of its traditional  product lines, the company finally decided to diversify and venture into ready-to-wear business. It introduced a polo shirt line. The market response was not favorable. In 1973, the company added a couple of lines like jeans and printed shirts, these two lines also failed.

Idioms and Expressions With Way

Idioms and Expressions With Way The following idioms and expressions with the noun way cover a wide range of topics and meanings. Each idiom or expression has a definition and two example sentences to help to understand of these common idiomatic expressions with way. All the way Definition: the entire distance, do everything necessary We drove all the way to Phoenix yesterday.Im sure they will make it all the way to finals. (Go) all the way Definition: travel the entire distance, achieve everything possible Make sure you go all the way to the end of the hall.Shell go all the way! In a bad way Definition: feeling poorly, in a very negative situation Im afraid Marys in a bad way. She needs our help.That car looks like its in a bad way. In a big way Definition: very much so I believe in that company in a big way.He enjoys tennis in a big way. In a familiar way Definition: pregnant Martha is in a familiar way.Did you know Peters wife is in a familiar way? In a family way Definition: pregnant Mary is in a family way.I hear that Jennifer is in a family way. It cuts both ways Definition: there are two sides to every argument, dont forget someone else is also involved Dont forget that it cuts both ways.Be nice to people when you beat them. Remember it cuts both ways. It cuts two ways Definition: there are two sides to every argument, dont forget someone else is also involved Some people forget that it cuts two ways and treat others poorly.Never forget that it cuts two ways. No way! Definition: exclamation of disbelief when surprised by a statement I like Justin Bieber. - No way!Peter and Jane are going to get married. - No way! Only way to go Definition: the best solution I bought a Wilson tennis racket. Theyre they only way to go.If you go to Hawaii, stay in Maui. Its the only way to go. Out of the way Definition: be in a position to not prevent progress You need to stay out of the way of your kids when they are teenagers.Good bosses stay out of the way of their employees. Swing both ways Definition: to be bisexual Anna swings both ways.Some of the men at work swing both ways. Thats the way the ball bounces. Definition: sentence used to accept defeat, or not achieving something one had hoped to achieve I didnt get the job. Thats the way the ball bounces.Dont get depressed. Thats the way the ball bounces. Thats the way the cookie crumbles. Definition: sentence used to accept defeat, or not achieving something one had hoped to achieve Our football team last the game. I guess thats the way the cookie crumbles.He wasnt accepted into the program. Thats the way the cookie crumbles. That way Definition: in love Peter and Tom are that way.Jasons that way, but she doesnt feel the same. Two-way street Definition: the same for both people Love is a two-way street.Never forget that your business associates are in a relationship with you that is a two-way street. Way down Definition: truthfully, the true feeling Way down he feels he should go back to university.I know she loves me way down. Way off (base) Definition: completely wrong I think your opinion of Tom is way off base.I was way off base about Mary. She really is a great person. Way out Definition: crazy, unbelievable That theory about UFOs is way out.Jack seems a little way out to me. Way to go! Definition: exclamation of praise I won the match. - Way to go!!Way to go, Tom! I knew you would get the job.