Naguib Mahfouz’ novel Midaq Alley is set in an ancient alleyway in the poorer sector of Cairo during the second world war. Mahfouz brings the lives of a number of characters together and the novel centres on their stories as they interact with each other and with their environment, allowing the author to portray the complexities of Egyptian society. Zaita, one of the novel’s more disreputable characters, is characterised through his appearance and actions as he interacts with the beggars and the alleyway’s unofficial doctor. Through Zaita’s characterisation, Mahfouz explores the complexities of the enclosed and impoverished society of the Egyptian alleyway. In this, the author aims to expose the darker reality behind the often-romanticised
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In Zaita we see a result of the impoverished’s age-old struggle between striving for an aesthetically pleasing appearance against the facts of their situation. Essentially Zaita is shunned because his appearance creates fear that the poverty’s unglamorous truth will be revealed at the expense of the pride of those who hide their situation . The fear his appearance inspires can also be seen as having links to the cultural phenomenon of ‘colonial mentality’, an inferiority complex some cultural theorists suggest developed in many previously-colonised countries. As the British arrived with an attitude of “Orientalism” viewing Egypt as “inferior” to the West, it can be said that many Egyptians came to feel their own lives were sub-standard in comparison with the colonisers. Zaita’s appearance reveals their situation’s reality, furthering the idea that poverty is often romanticised in a bid to salvage pride.
As a man who maims beggars for money, Zaita’s profession, which seems reprehensible to us, provides the reader with a view of the depths of the desperation felt by those living in extreme hardship. This is reinforced through his interactions with the beggars he cripples; the only people he can claim power over. We begin to understand the importance of these interactions through Mahfouz’s depiction of his actions: “He only ever walked out here when no one but the beggars, who acknowledged his absolute sovereignty, were …show more content…
Mahfouz explores Egyptian society’s complex hierarchical structures through the portrayal of Zaita, whose appearance, actions and interactions characterise him as a figure who has succumbed to the temptation to blame his behaviour and choices on his social environment. Through Zaita, Mahfouz examines the often ignored impacts of poverty as he works to provide a corrective to society’s view of hardship as romantic or glamorous. Despite its specific setting, as regards both place and time, Midaq Alley’s theme is universal as we can all appreciate and learn from this portrayal of poverty and perhaps, as a result, reflect on our own situations and attitudes towards those less fortunate than
In Zaita we see a result of the impoverished’s age-old struggle between striving for an aesthetically pleasing appearance against the facts of their situation. Essentially Zaita is shunned because his appearance creates fear that the poverty’s unglamorous truth will be revealed at the expense of the pride of those who hide their situation . The fear his appearance inspires can also be seen as having links to the cultural phenomenon of ‘colonial mentality’, an inferiority complex some cultural theorists suggest developed in many previously-colonised countries. As the British arrived with an attitude of “Orientalism” viewing Egypt as “inferior” to the West, it can be said that many Egyptians came to feel their own lives were sub-standard in comparison with the colonisers. Zaita’s appearance reveals their situation’s reality, furthering the idea that poverty is often romanticised in a bid to salvage pride.
As a man who maims beggars for money, Zaita’s profession, which seems reprehensible to us, provides the reader with a view of the depths of the desperation felt by those living in extreme hardship. This is reinforced through his interactions with the beggars he cripples; the only people he can claim power over. We begin to understand the importance of these interactions through Mahfouz’s depiction of his actions: “He only ever walked out here when no one but the beggars, who acknowledged his absolute sovereignty, were …show more content…
Mahfouz explores Egyptian society’s complex hierarchical structures through the portrayal of Zaita, whose appearance, actions and interactions characterise him as a figure who has succumbed to the temptation to blame his behaviour and choices on his social environment. Through Zaita, Mahfouz examines the often ignored impacts of poverty as he works to provide a corrective to society’s view of hardship as romantic or glamorous. Despite its specific setting, as regards both place and time, Midaq Alley’s theme is universal as we can all appreciate and learn from this portrayal of poverty and perhaps, as a result, reflect on our own situations and attitudes towards those less fortunate than