The image of the donkey versus human being’s in Juan Ramón Jiménez’s Platero y yo and Tawfi k Al-Hakim’s El burro de Al-Hakim. Contrastive analysis of verbal (un)politeness

Abstract

The present paper aims to analyze the contrast between the image of the donkey and that of the human in the works Platero and me by the Spanish writer Juan Ramón Jimenez and Al-Hakim's donkey by the Egyptian writer Tawfik Al-Hakim. In the present work, the verbal acts used by both authors are projected when designating both the animal and the human, favoring the image of the former versus that of the latter. To this end, this comparison focuses on the concept of the face-work of Goffman (1967), analyzing it from the strategies elaborated subsequently by Brown and Levinson in their Politeness Principle (1987). However, the Spanish and Egyptian writers highlight the positive image of the donkey at the expense of that of the human, modifying the negative perception about the stereotype of the animal. The two writers handle the verbal acts that safeguard the image when they allude to the animal, while those representing the human jeopardize its image.