Hi, so I have been writing this essay for English but I am having trouble changing the passsive voice in this text. Could you help?
In "Half a Day," a short story by Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, a young boy experiences his first day of school. As he enters school, unmotivated and unwilling to leave his comforting mother, he must learn certain subjects and ways of life. When he returns home later that evening, the boy is no longer a boy, but an old man who does not recognize the world in which he lives. "Half a Day" delves into the deep philosophical implications of separation from a maternal figure in one's life. Mahfouz notes that certain societies separate paternal and maternal figures. Often, the image of the mother is put aside and marginalized. Furthermore, this mindset leads to an obligation to separate mother and child so that children can understand and pass on this mindset to future generations. This problem is illustrated by Mahfouz at the very beginning of the story. When the boy is taken away from his mother by his father, he sees his mother "stood at the window watching our progress...". This event explains the mother's emotional distance from society and her son. Not only is he torn from his comfortable home, but he is also moulded and made into the masculine figure that society accepts. The loss of his comfortable home, his mother, leaves him without any connection to the world he once knew. When the boy's father brings him to a new school with a certain set of morals, he is taught a new way of thinking by his new teachers and role models. They taught him and countless others that "the time for changing one's mind was over and gone, and there was no question of ever returning to the paradise of home." The erasure of warmth emanating from a maternal figure changes the way the boy and other students think and behave toward others. As a result, replacing the mother figure affects not only the boy but the entire society. For generations, this society has thrived on sending boys to school to make "useful men out of boys." This removes the security and intimacy that a boy once had while the world around him changes. When the boy leaves school to go home, he sees that the world around him has changed, "high buildings had taken over, the street surged with children, and disturbing noises shook the air." These phallic images represent the chaos and destruction caused by the loss of a maternal figure in society. The literary imagery in this short story illustrates the absence of a mother and the societal effects that come with it, such as emotional distance, an unbalanced society, and a chaotic world.
Explication d'Alloprof
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Hello!
We don't have an English section yet on Alloprof, so we don't have a page yet on active or passive voice, but you can look at these resources to learn more about it :
For each sentence, take the time and ask yourself if the sentence is active or passive using the ressources linked above. You can also try "removing" the unecessry part of the sentence (don't forget to put them back in your answer!). It may help you identify if the voice is active or passive.
If you still have questions after watching the video and reading the page, you can write another question anytime!
I hope that helps! We will be happy to help you with any other question you have!
Laurie :)
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