Midaq Alley Essay

Midaq Alley Naguib Mahfouz To what extent is Midaq Alley an “Arab” novel? Does this add to or detract from the novel’s overall impact on an international audience. The work of literature “Midaq Alley” by Naguib Mahfouz introduces the audience an Arab culture through his descriptions of different characters. Each character is used as an analogue, representing people in the alley with different beliefs and ambitions. Moreover, the characteristics of Mahfouz’s characters also draw international readers’

The novel, Midaq Alley, written by Naguib Mahfouz, tells the story of various characters living in a poor alley in Egypt during World War I. Of all the people in Midaq Alley, Hamida is the one who lusts most for an escape from tradition and poverty. She despises her traditional culture, and longs for a life free from the social and cultural constraints that fall upon her. Hamida is introduced as a strong character; however, the temptation of modernization guides her towards a more enticing lifestyle

Through analyzing the Muslim religion, as well as, learning more about Egypt at the time that Midaq Alley was set for, several of the holes that were present when reading this book were filled. One of the holes that were filled was the whole homosexuality part in the book. In chapter twelve of Midaq Alley, Mrs. Kirsha saw that her husband was messing around with a guy, so taking matters into her own hands, as most women would after they have had enough of something, she humiliated both Kirsha and

rebellious character. As Midaq Alley is a translated book from Arabic to English, it may have lost its original value in

The theme of "Midaq Alley" cuts to the heart of Arab society. Namely, it shows how a group of characters living in the same slum neighborhood responds to the combined promise and threat of Western-influenced modernization. Midaq Alley is about the Egyptian residents of a hustling, packed back alley in Cairo in the 1940's. The attempts of several residents to escape the alley and move up in status end with dreams broken and unfulfilled. The opening sentences of "Midaq Alley" points to a world bypassed

Naguib Mahfouz was a prestigious Egyptian writer, who wrote several notable novels, such as “Midaq Alley” (1947) and “The Cairo Trilogy”. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988. (Nobelprize.org, “The Nobel Prize in Literature 1988”). Midaq Alley is set 1940s' Egypt, during World War II, while Egypt was still a monarchy, and under British occupation. Mahfouz's characters are often symbolic. In Midaq Alley, Hamida, the protagonist symbolizes Egypt. Hamida is Egypt due to her rebellious nature, her

Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz is a story of love, ambition, hope, and their corruptions. Through each member of the alley each of these ideas are explored, and a truth is revealed about the meanings of these emotions and how they impact the way humans interact with one another. The stories of Midaq Alley are each individual, but they come together to weave a bigger picture, a reflection on both Western and Traditional Egyptian and Arab culture. Through the character of Hamida, a foster daughter,

Sebastian Torres-Torija Midaq Alley Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz is the entertaining story of a unique local alley in Cairo who demonstrates on a day-to-day basis the true colors of a quintessential low class Egyptian society, in a contrast with a present day Egypt that hopes to modernize as the end of World War II occurs. It is the characters that inhabit this alley, along with their individual and communal stories and links that they share that excel this novel into a state of utter glory

The theme of "Midaq Alley" cuts to the heart of Arab society. Namely, it shows how a group of characters living in the same slum neighborhood responds to the combined promise and threat of Western-influenced modernization. Midaq Alley is about the Egyptian residents of a hustling, packed back alley in Cairo in the 1940's. The attempts of several residents to escape the alley and move up in status end with dreams broken and unfulfilled. The opening sentences of "Midaq Alley" points to a world bypassed

In the novels Midaq Alley and The Yacoubian Building, we are shown the ongoing, daily struggles of the working-poor in both colonial and postcolonial Egypt. Both share central, overarching themes such as debauchery, desperation, and unstable political situations. The two settings are both examples of microcosms, “cities within a city”. Midaq Alley is a small, dead-end neighborhood in 1940’s Cairo that consists of various shops and apartments. Within each of these buildings are characters that live