The Yacoubian Building By Alaa Al Aswany: Morality Vs. Necessity

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Sandy Moolchan 5/5/14 History 160 Morality vs. Necessity “The Yacoubian Building” by Alaa al-Aswany is a novel set in a ten-story building located in downtown Cairo around 1934. It revolves amongst the lives of several of the residents in the building who are struggling to survive their everyday life and the corrupted government in Egypt. During the course of the novel, I observed that necessity versus dignity seemed to be one of the most obvious and painful recurring subjects. The inadequacy of the government has altered many of the characters’ interpretations of morality. Despite the many despicable actions and crimes “The Yacoubian Building” depicts, its narrator almost never explicitly judges the novel’s characters. Instead, Al Aswany goes to great length to demonstrate how these characters are all victims of their cruel society. As such, Busayna comes to consent her employer's groping in the backroom because she has a family to support; Abduh’s moral hatred to homosexuality, yet he surrender to Hatim seduction in order to escape poverty. Souad pretends to appreciate sex with her elderly husband Hagg Azzam because he provides for her son from another marriage; Taha’s failure to become a policeman because he is the son of a doorman has ultimately leads him to Islamic extremism and violence. Al Aswany generates an energetic community in the “The Yacoubian Building” by involving all the characters and indicating how all of them dealt with his/her problems in the novel. He replicates disputes that are significant to modern Egyptian society such as homosexuality, political Islam, social inequality,... ... middle of paper ... ...actions of the occupants of the Yacoubian building provides the reader with many perceptions into Egyptian society. Perhaps, a reader may find these perceptions essential for the reason that they capture and offers some sort genuineness of Egyptian political and religious culture. “The Yacoubian Building” is a controversial novel that addressed and entertains anyone fascinated in contemporary Egypt subjects. It includes the honest interpretations of a variation of sexual repression, political corruption and abuse, and the dangers of religious extremism. Alaa al-Aswany goes to great length to clarify how the characters such as Busayna, Souad, Abduh and Taha are all victims of their corrupt society. Work Cited Page Aswany,Alaa Al,“ The Yacoubian Building”, trans. Humphrey Davies (New York: Harper Perennial, 2006),40, 45, 54,59, 78, 126, 190,217, 205.

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