Music Room We Chanted Our First Song For Dummies

These ideas of assimilation, and finding where one should be, because of the divisions of ideology and society, were incredibly important. Not only choosing the right side for the time, but also becoming a part of that side was essential to cultural survival and this accounts for the feelings of the narrator who states, “we submitted to the facts, and this submission brought a sort of contentment” (Mahfouz, 504). This submission to the facts were the facts given by the more traditional regime in Egypt at the time. One can figure out that it is the older regime because the narrator later speaks of, “In music room we chanted our first songs...we were told of His present world and His Hereafter, and we heard examples of what He said” (Mahfouz,

The beginning of the story uses more personal pronouns, while as the story goes on these turn into “our’s”, and “we’s”. As found in a study, “those who identify highly with their national identity are more likely to act in accordance with the dominant societal normative orientation” (Postmes, and McAuliffe, 194). The narrator rather quickly identifies with his national identity with “I” statements, quickly changing to statements about the group. For example, early in the story he states, “I had never imagined school would have this rich variety”, and “such girls as I as was to be in love with” (Mahfouz). However, as school, also known as life, goes on the story is completely void of any “I” statements. After the teacher tells the students that this school is now their home, all of the statements are collective such as, “as our path revealed itself to us, however we did not find it as totally sweet and unclouded as we had presumed” (Mahfouz, 507). This language shows how the path is not individual, but is rather for all of them, and they feel the lack of sweetness together, all with the same feeling. This is the part of the narrator’s life in which he is truly at his most collectivist, after he has “submitted to the facts”, and submitted to the rulings of the current regime, he no longer is himself but rather is the ideals that this regime

Since these members are controlled by this regime, they are together, and exist together because of a single similarity. This is known as deductive reasoning, and it has been shown that this way of forming groups is weak, and even something as simple as a change in in appearance, can break this group up (Spears, Lee, and Novak, 751). In the case of the story, the narrator suddenly reverts to using “I” statements as he realizes that the world around him has changed dramatically. Released from school, and the over watching eye of the government where he grew to feel so comfortable, he finds that the world has moved on without him. The narrator’s confusion is emphasized by him saying, “I was in a daze. My head spun. I almost went crazy. How could all of this have happened in half a day?” (Mahfouz, 507). The narrator finally regains his sense of self, just to find that he has now lost his life to the group. He was involved, and consumed for so long, that after being released, he realizes he has been left in the past and is unsure of who he