20th Century Themes in Midaq Alley

The idea of rebellion was treated by each of the authors by the three articles Cairo: my city, our revolution, Lolita in Tehran and Persepolis two. The author of Cairo: my city, our revolution talks about how Egypt is protesting about their country. And the author of Lolita in Tehran talks about the result of Iran taking over their country. And the author of Persepolis two talks about how women should dress.

In the story of, "Araby" James Joyce concentrated on three main themes that will explain the purpose of the narrative. The story unfolded on North Richmond Street, which is a street composed of two rows of houses, in a desolated neighborhood. Despite the dreary surroundings of "dark muddy lanes" and "ash pits" the boy tried to find evidence of love and beauty in his surroundings. Throughout the story, the boy went through a variety of changes that will pose as different themes of the story including alienation, transformation, and the meaning of religion (Borey).

It has always been distinctive that knowledge arises through realization of the surrounding world. “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara and “Araby” by James Joyce deal with the lessons learned in life. Sylvia from “The Lesson” lives in one of the burrows of New York and journeys to the Fifth Avenue and learns about the immeasurably diverse lifestyle of the people there. The main character of “Araby” possesses the craving to venture onto the enchanted market Araby to purchase a gift for his beloved. Sylvia and the main character of “Araby” soon learn how the world is so different and how it will transform their lives.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic novel that provides insight into a young girl living in Iran during the hardship of war. Persepolis takes place during the childhood of Marjane Satrapi. It gives a background of the Islamic Revolution and the war in Iran. Satrapi attempts to guide herself in a corrupted world filled with propaganda. She tries to develop her own morality concerning religion, politics, and humanity. Satrapi was blessed enough to have high class status and parents who had an open mindset about the world around them. Thanks to her slightly alternative lifestyle, she is able to reconstruct gender norms that society has set by depicting the different ways women resist them. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others” by Lila Abu-Lughod is an essay detailing the misconceptions surrounding the veil. Through this essay we can see how colonial feminism, the form of feminism in which western women push for a western way of living on their third world counterparts, has shined a negative light on cultures all around the world - particularly Islamic women. The essay shows how women who don’t conform to American societal structures are labeled as women who urgently require saving. Through this essay one can develop a thorough understanding of the veil itself and the many representations it holds to different entities. Although in Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood Satrapi

Joyce’s “Araby” and Bambara’s “Lesson” pose surprising similarities to each other. Despite the narrators’ strikingly clear differences, such as time period, ethnicity, social class, and gender the characters have important similarities. Both narrators are at crucial developmental stages in their lives, are faced with severe adversities, and have a point of clarity that affects their future.

“Araby,” a complex short story by James Joyce is narrated by a mature man who reflects upon an adolescent boy’s transition into adulthood. The story focuses on the events that brought the main character to face his disconnect of reality. Love plays a distinct role in the boy’s delusion of reality, which Joyce relays from the beginning of the story. Minor characters, such as Mangan’s sister, The priest, Mrs. Mercer, and his uncle hold a vital role in the boy’s shattered innocence. Joyce uses these characters to introduce to the boy the hypocrisy, vanity and illusion of adulthood by highlighting their faults and later linking them to his reality.

The story “Araby” as told by James Joyce is about a young boy that is fascinated with the girl across the street. But deeper down the story is about a very lonely boy lusting for her love and affection. Throughout the story, we see how the frustration of first love, isolation and high expectations breaks the main character emotionally and physically. James Joyce uses the first-person viewpoint to tell this story which helps influence the plot, characterization, themes, and understanding of the main character.

Although "Araby" is a fairly short story, author James Joyce does a remarkable job of discussing some very deep issues within it. On the surface it appears to be a story of a boy's trip to the market to get a gift for the girl he has a crush on. Yet deeper down it is about a lonely boy who makes a pilgrimage to an eastern-styled bazaar in hopes that it will somehow alleviate his miserable life. James Joyce's uses the boy in "Araby" to expose a story of isolation and lack of control. These themes of alienation and control are ultimately linked because it will be seen that the source of the boy's emotional distance is his lack of control over his life.

“Araby,” is a story of emotional passion carefully articulated by the author, James Joyce, to mark the end of childhood and the start of adolescence. It is told from the perspective of a young boy who is filled with lust for his friend, Mangan’s, sister. He lives in a cheerless town on a street hosting simply complacent families who own brown faced houses that stare vacantly into one another. The boy temporarily detaches himself from this gloomy atmosphere and dwells on the keeper of his affection. Only when he journeys to a festival titled Araby, does he realize that his attempt at winning the heart of Mangan’s sister has been done in an act of vanity. Joyce takes advantage of literary elements such as diction and imagery to convey an at times dreary and foolishly optimistic tone.

The description Mahfouz gives of Hamida makes her out to be the most beautiful girl in the alley. Immediately, her beauty captures the reader’s attention, and causes her to stand out in the novel. In fact, her beauty created chaos among the men in the alley, and is conveyed in the line “she was constantly beset by a desire to fight and conquer…this she showed in her pleasure in attracting men” [Mahfouz, 39]. In the third chapter of the novel, Hamida was described as a beautiful, shapely, dark-eyed girl in her twenties, who longs for fine clothes and a rich husband. Hamida is described as having long, black hair that is near her knees. Her beauty not

169). The rooms are described as, “musty from having been long enclosed, hung in all the rooms, and the waste room behind the kitchen was littered with old useless newspapers (p. 169).” Already, the reader can get an image in their head using a bit of imagination. The setting at the beginning of the story suggests that the boy lives in an older building. Not only is the building depicted as old but the former tenant who lived in the house was a priest (p. 169). The settings also move to the bazaar that the boy attends in hopes that he can purchase an item for Mangan’s sister. The bazaar is called Araby, which happens to be the title of the story. The bazaar is a charitable event one that the boy hopes to attend. By the time the boy could attend the bazaar, it was shutting down for the evening as the boy had arrived late into the night. The boy was discouraged into buying any items from the vendors because the one that was open the vendor had a distasteful tone in her voice and it was not at all encouraging for the boy (p. 173). The setting is just one component of the story the plot is

The Complete Persepolis paints a descriptive and complex picture of Iranian society and its transition from a progressive and Westernized state to a new fundamentalist regime following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The graphic novel cleverly uses a blend of images and text to tell her story from different perspectives throughout her life, exemplifying and questioning the ideologies accompanying the revolution. Specifically, Satrapi focuses on the role of the veil to challenge the new regime and its ideals of feminine oppression. Throughout the novel, Marjane Satrapi attempts to navigate through the abrupt shift of culture in her world, strategically utilizing different perspectives of the veil as both a young girl and an adult woman to do so. Readers follow Satrapi’s journey with her veil, from her initial conformation to her eventual rebellion and freedom.

The graphic novel Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, explores her childhood years in the middle of the Islamic Revolution. Situated in the commotion of the overthrowing of the Shah's regime, and the war with Iraq, the reader learns how secularists, nationalists and even Muslims marginalized, excluded and silenced the modernists in Iran during the Islamic

Hamida is the character that represents the people who yearn for a change. Often, she feels as though she is worth more than just living in the old alley – and she calls it a “Nothing Alley”(27) and asking herself “Oh what a shame Hamida, what are you doing living in this alley? (27)”. During World War II, many people in Midaq Alley go to work for the soldiers in the hope of earning more money and living in a more comfortable life. Hamida is one of those people who sacrifice themselves and everything that they have in an exchange for the wealthy life they always have dreamed of. Hamida is not a religious person and has a different perspective from the people in the alley because she sees a better life in the modern world. In the end, she decides to become a prostitute for pretty clothes and jewelries. She does not regret choosing this life as she is able to have an opportunity that gives her “desire for life and adventure (186)”.

Promiscuity played a large role for multiple characters in both novels. Jealousy, infidelity, and homosexuality are all depicted openly and all have central parts in the separate stories. Midaq Alley introduced us to the character Hamida, an impoverished young woman who is desperate to find a partner who is financially stable. As she explored a relationship with Abbas, another prominent figure was also trying to flatter her. Knowing that she sought someone with money, Salim Alwan, an older, wealthy businessman with voracious sexual desires had an intense lust for Hamida. A character who was in a similar situation to Hamida is Busayna from The Yacoubian Building. While she was trying