The paper should be an intellectual personal reflection essay on the Egyptian novel The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany. The paper should center on the following questions: What is in common for the female characters in the novel? What similar challenges do the Egyptian women face? What struggles and compromises do they have? How do they react to their different identities as wife, mother, mistress, or family raiser?

These questions reduce the paper to a manageable set of charactersreally just Busayna and Souad. This is what you want to do with this paper. Cut down on the parts of the book you will talk about. It is easier to take on a focused problem or question. Avoid general problems. Do not try to tell the whole story of the novel. Avoid too much plot summary. But it is also important to use evidence from the book to support your argument.