Morocco Cities Chapter Summaries

1) “Astride the animal was a horseman dressed completely in black, with a falcon perched on his left shoulder. He wore a turban and his entire face, except for his eyes, was covered with a black kerchief. He appeared to be a messenger from the desert, but his presence was much more powerful than that of a mere messenger.” (page 109)

Throughout the film, the residents emphasize their relationship with their Jewish culture. For these people, being Jewish is not simply about religiosity – rather, their culture serves to find a community of similar people in their old age. The community center serves as a physical gathering space for the residents to experience shared Jewish rituals, stories, and performances. Although these people may not know each other intimately, they are brought together by their culture, music, and traditions. Additionally, a principal theme of the film regards the elderly people’s experience with aging.

My hand swung to my side, feeling the sharp stone puncture layers of skin and muscle. Wailing in agony as blood spurted out of the wound, I run towards nearby shelter. The shrill screams of dying men rip through the air, accompanied by the sounds of arrows whizzing through the air and the Indians whoop when they hit a target. Dizzy from pain and hunger, I lay in a more comfortable position, just hoping to survive this wretched attack. ”Why did I ever come here?” the thought pounded through my head. “Oh yeah, I remember why. Land. Money.” That irritating know-it-all voice answered. I hear feet pounding around me and realize that the Indians have gone inside the town. One enters the door and maliciously grins when he sees me. He runs toward me and my eyes widen with shock as the spear plunges down, and becomes closer and closer….

Europeans feared and discriminate Africans but that didn’t stop them from selling them and making them work in plantation for a certain period of time. In addition, white blames the African for things they did not do – ““the living image of primitive aggressions which they said was the Negro but was really their own” (50). This statement proved that white colonizers get away with things by blaming the blacks, insisting that blacks are going to gore the life of them and denying the fact, blacks to be their own.

“In all his travels the Bishop had seen no country like this. From the flat red sea of sand rose great rock mesas... The sandy soil of the plain had a light sprinkling of junipers, and was splotched with masses of blooming rabbit brush,-- that oliver-coloured plant that grows in high waves like a tossing sea, at this season covered with a thatch of bloom, yellow as gorse, or orange like marigolds.” 94 Both women describe the land of desert with such vividness that one is not left with the idea of a barren, sandy soil but an environment that is rich with history as well as life. This life and history of the land are a part of the culture.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2010), approximately 1.7 million individuals are diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Within the medical and allied health care professions, various definitions are utilized to define what constitutes a TBI (Abelson-Mitchell, 2007). Despite such various definitions, a TBI essentially describes any form of trauma directed at the brain and its surrounding anatomical structures (Abelson-Mitchell, 2007). As with most injuries, a TBI is graded as mild, moderate, or severe; however, in contrast to most severe injuries, a severe TBI can detrimentally affect an individual’s motor and cognitive functioning (Abelson-Mitchell, 2007; CDC, 2010).

“We’re here?” I question, seeing a large trading town a mile away. We’ve traveled 500 miles in one month by the way. Mansa Musa replies, “Yes.” “I’ve heard of this town, it’s an Oasis town.” adds the muslim scholar. We are in silence for the short mile, and once we reach the town the camels stop, having reached their 100-mile limit for the day. The town is bustling with trading activities, I smell fruit, meat, salt, and smoke from the cooking around the trading stalls. My mouth is watering, for we have only been eating bread for the whole trip whilst the Mansa has been feasting. I pull a gold coin I packed for my trip and go to trade for a couple of apples. I ask for apples and the trader gives me five apples, split into halves, and I hand

Written by Tayeb Salih, the novel ‘Season of Migration to the North’ as described by The Observer “is an Arabian Nights in reverse, enclosing a pithy moral about international misconceptions and delusions.” The novel is set both in England and the Sudan, showing the stark social differences within these two locations. In this essay, I will evaluate the reasons supporting and opposing Mahjoub’s statement as defined in ‘Season of Migration to the North’.

Capital punishment is a global issue and it is a question of life and death. Capital punishment is when the government kills a person by using legal means, and sometimes it is called the death penalty. The death penalty is the prosecution of people who have been found guilty of malefaction that is measured to be worthy of capital punishment. Capital punishment has been practiced for many years, in the United States and across the world. In the United States, each state has the right to accept if they will use capital punishment for committed crimes by an individual in their state or not. There are many factors that should not be ignored because there has to be actual evidence and people who can testimony on exactly what happened, but that is not what happens. As Stephen mentions, “America is still one of the world’s Big Six when it comes to putting its citizens to death – along with China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Sudan. Gallup says that around 65 per cent of Americans still favor the death penalty, and only one of the 2008 presidential frontrunners has the courage to oppose it” (32-33). The death penalty is practiced in the United State, but few states have abrogated it, including Minnesota. States like Texas still practice the death penalty in the United States. According to Fuller, … Texas has executed 876 people since 1964, and it is one of the States that practice the death penalty more than any other State . The state accounts for nearly 40 percent of executions in

In the novels Midaq Alley and The Yacoubian Building, we are shown the ongoing, daily struggles of the working-poor in both colonial and postcolonial Egypt. Both share central, overarching themes such as debauchery, desperation, and unstable political situations. The two settings are both examples of microcosms, “cities within a city”. Midaq Alley is a small, dead-end neighborhood in 1940’s Cairo that consists of various shops and apartments. Within each of these buildings are characters that live completely separate lives but all have the same aspirations, to experience the world outside and the wealth it has. The Yacoubian Building is also set in Cairo during the turbulent 1990’s. Similarly, the characters were all tenants of a large apartment building, living in cramped and decrepit spaces.

169). The rooms are described as, “musty from having been long enclosed, hung in all the rooms, and the waste room behind the kitchen was littered with old useless newspapers (p. 169).” Already, the reader can get an image in their head using a bit of imagination. The setting at the beginning of the story suggests that the boy lives in an older building. Not only is the building depicted as old but the former tenant who lived in the house was a priest (p. 169). The settings also move to the bazaar that the boy attends in hopes that he can purchase an item for Mangan’s sister. The bazaar is called Araby, which happens to be the title of the story. The bazaar is a charitable event one that the boy hopes to attend. By the time the boy could attend the bazaar, it was shutting down for the evening as the boy had arrived late into the night. The boy was discouraged into buying any items from the vendors because the one that was open the vendor had a distasteful tone in her voice and it was not at all encouraging for the boy (p. 173). The setting is just one component of the story the plot is

The work of literature “Midaq Alley” by Naguib Mahfouz introduces the audience an Arab culture through his descriptions of different characters. Each character is used as an analogue, representing people in the alley with different beliefs and ambitions. Moreover, the characteristics of Mahfouz’s characters also draw international readers’ attention concerning how westernization takes place.

He saw this through many ways and because of what was mentioned in the above quote and “the Middle East crisis of 1973 that provoked Said to research and write Orientalism, which was published in 1978” (Irwin 2006, 281). His book however, is not a book about the “history[s] of the Oriental studies, but rather a highly selective polemic on certain aspects of the relations of knowledge and power. Its style and content strongly suggest that it is addressed exclusively to a Western readership” (Irwin 2006, 281). In his book he starts with two points or problems that he saw happen with what others said when studying the Orient. The first one was from Karl Marx who stated that “They cannot represent themselves; they must be represented” and the second was from Benjamin Disraeli who said “The East is a career” (Krishna 2009, 73). Both these points did not sit well with Said as they showed that knowledge or

The Sultan soon passes away and the reign is taken over by his brother who is the polar opposite of the former ruler. I feel as though this is hearsay and not a direct observation since a mere traveler wouldn’t have such close encounters.

Durrell presents two Alexandrias; the Arabic Alexandria which is always related to negative descriptions and always looked at with resentment and disgust, and the European Alexandria which comes along with the clean streets and the civilized characters. Durrell exhibits the Arab Quarters as an undefined mass; he does not name their streets or their cafes; he gives them no identity. In contrast, the European streets are named, for instance; Rue Foaad, Rue Sherief and Naby Daniel. The voice of the Arabs is shut; we do not get to see any Egyptian characters except for Nessim, whom we know lately in the Alexandria Quartet about his national treason; a person who has no sense of belonging towards Egypt. Nessim also is so westernized; the fact that Nessim’s voice is heard in the novel goes back to his wealthy state and his high social rank that did enable him to neglect his Egyptian nationality and have a European lifestyle. Hence, Nessim does not represent the real Egyptian Alexandrian inhabitant of the time. Durrell’s claim that “only the city is real” is questionable; you cannot write a novel as a representative of Alexandria and its inhabitants while choosing to foreground only the western voices and background the Arab ones. So Durrell’s colonial ideology is shown in his writing; his tone is racial and biased against the Egyptians. Moreover, Durrell depicts Muslim Arabs as racist violent people who persecute