Rose Porfido
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Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0
Rose Porfido
Professor Peer
Eng 2850
¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 Dear Reader,
¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 With this essay, I was hoping to prove that all people are the same; we all live through similar experiences and we all share a sense of rootedness with the place we come from. My thesis is that this was the message of Season of Migration to the North.
¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 I think I best proved this point in the paragraph about the simile between the narrator and a date palm tree. My original thesis was that all people are inherently the same no matter where we come from but I broadened it to include that we all feel rooted with a specific place.
¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 I think I need more evidence to support my thesis. I also think that I need to explain or communicate my point more clearly.
¶ 6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0 Passage on pages 3-5 from “I listened intently to the wind…” to “in my conceit I was afraid he would not understand.”
¶ 7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 1 The message of Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih is expressed in this passage; we all live through similar experiences and we all share a sense of rootedness with the place we come from. The cultures of Sudan and Europe may seem polarized, but all people have similar experiences and we all have more similarities than differences.
¶ 8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 2 In this passage, the narrator uses a metaphor to describe himself being linked to his home. “I felt not like a storm swept feather but like that of a palm tree, a being with a background, with roots, with a purpose” (4). The word “root” is a keyword in this passage. A root is something that is deep and keeps a tree strong and connected to the ground beneath it. He feels that his roots are with this town. He feels a deep and strong connection with this place, like a tree has connections with the ground it is on. The major similarity that all people have is that we are all tied to a place. The only thing that differs from person to person is the physical place.
¶ 9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 0 After the narrator of Season of Migration to the North comes back to his hometown after living in Europe, he realizes that all people are the same. He says just like us they are born and die, and in the journey from the cradle to the grave they dream dreams some of which come true and some of which are frustrated; that they fear the unknown, search for love and seek contentment in wife and child; that some are strong and some are weak; that some have given more than they deserve by life, while others have been deprived by it, but that the differences are narrowing and most of the weak are no longer weak (5).
¶ 10 Leave a comment on paragraph 10 1 The people of Sudan and Europe come from different cultures, but this isn’t what defines us as human beings. All human beings live and die, have dreams, and look for love, etc. After colonialization of Sudan and Africa, these people have a different expectation of the European people. They do not realize what the narrator has while he was in Europe.
¶ 11 Leave a comment on paragraph 11 1 The narrator also uses a simile when comparing his time in London with his home in Sudan: I would imagine the faces over there being brown or black so that they would look like the faces of people I knew. Over there is like here, neither better nor worse. But I am from here, just as the date palm standing in the courtyard of our house has grown in our house and not in anyone else’s. The face that they came to our land, I know not why, does that mean that we should poison our present and our future? Sooner or later they will leave our country, just as many people throughout history left many countries. The railways, ships, hospitals, factories and schools will be ours and we’ll speak their language without either a sense of guilt or a sense of gratitude. Once again we shall be as we were- ordinary people- (41).
¶ 12 Leave a comment on paragraph 12 1 Again, he is comparing himself with a tree. While he knows that there is nothing unique about his country’s situation (“sooner or later they will leave our country, just as many people throughout history left many countries”), he also has a sense of separation between himself and the Europeans (“but I am from here, just as the date pam standing in the courtyard of our house has grown in our house and not in anyone else’s”). What is separating them is their cultures, but he knows that that is the only difference. He feels a connection to his home, just like Europeans feel a connection to theirs. He knows that neither place is “neither better nor worse” than the other, but it is where you grow where you feel the connection. The palm tree standing in the courtyard grew there, and is from there; the narrator grew in Sudan, and is from there. He is completely aware of the rootedness that he feels. He knows that there is nothing distinguished about Sudan, that it is ordinary, but he feels a connection with it. The narrator is not looking at colonization as a bad thing. He knows that the people from Europe are inherently the same as the people from where he is from. He knows that one day his culture may be gone- but he knows that it will be replaced by another’s culture, and his people will still be ordinary people, as they always were.
¶ 13 Leave a comment on paragraph 13 0 “The war ended in victory for us all: the stones, the trees, the animals, and the iron, while I, lying under this beautiful, compassionate sky, feel that we are all brothers; he who drinks and he who prays and he who fights and he who kills. The source is the same. No one knows what goes on in the mind of the Divine” (93). The narrator knows that the source of all people is the same and we all look up to the same sky. No matter if a person prays, drinks, fights or kills, we are all connected to the same source, or “Divine.”
¶ 14 Leave a comment on paragraph 14 1 Tayeb Salih’s message of Season of Migration to the North is that no matter where we come from, we all share the same experiences and we all share a rootedness with the place we come from. The people of Sudan expect Europe to be something much greater than what they know in Sudan, when really it is “neither better nor worse” (41). Ultimately, Salih wants us to appreciate where we come from and what we have. Just like the people of Sudan, we won’t realize this until we experience something other than what we know, and see that everyone is the same all over the world.
Rose, I couldn’t agree more that while there are differences all over the world – we are all the same. Therefore, I LOVE the thesis statement and I think you tied your claims and evidence into your thesis very nicely while explaining the “rootedness” of one’s culture and the comparison the author made between the character and the palm tree.
Key and point in your conclusion – I think we should all start traveling more and sharing the similarities/differences of each culture. 🙂
Hi Rose.
I think you really did a great job. I like the thesis statement of the essay. You show the contrast in your thesis and tell us that the differences and similarities. The claims you made in the body paragraph are well-developed and well-explained especially I like you said comparing himself with a tree. You showed the differences and explained the relationship of palm tree with the man.
Your conclusion is unique and interesting. I didnt think about this type of conclusion before. I think I will try to use similar conclusion like yours in my essay too. You showed the further development of the essay in the conclusion. I really like that.
Rose,
I really like your essay. The thesis statement is clear and body paragraphs are organized according to CEA format. I couldn’t find anything to complain about. )))
However, I feel you could make it even better by introducing and analyzing more the passage from page 93. As a reader I want to get more explanation about this passage.
Overall very strong essay!