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.
Critics have already begun a heated debate over the success of the book that has addressed both its strengths and weaknesses. The debate may rage for a few years but it will eventually fizzle out as the success of the novel sustains. The characters, plot, emotional appeal, and easily relatable situations are too strong for this book to crumble. The internal characteristics have provided a strong base to withstand the petty attacks on underdeveloped metaphors and transparent descriptions. The novel does not need confrontations with the Middle East to remain a staple in modern reading, it can hold its own based on its life lessons that anyone can use.
Joyce, James. “Araby”. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Eds. R.V. Cassill and Richard Bausch. Shorter Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2000. 427 - 431.
Joyce, James. “Araby.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter Eighth Edition. Eds. Jerome Beaty, Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. New York: W.W.Norton.
First of all, both the boy in “Araby” and the woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper” have no control over their lives. In addition, these characters experience isolation as a result of their controlled lives. Finally, that feeling of isolation drives
It revolves around the issues of gender oppression, sexual assault, and importance of social status. Alifa Rifaat manages to express her opinions towards these themes by writing about a typical Egyptian marriage. She puts in focus the strong influence that a patriarchal society has. She also manages to prove how important social status is in society. The uses of literally elements such as theme and irony help express this view. It shows that in a typical Egyptian society women are commonly oppressed by all males in society
...on, thought by Maryam as she wanders through the city of cardboard, is a poignant reminder of how institutions effect the individual. How does one form a self in a country that is struggling to create its own identity amidst clashing institutions? How does one construct a legacy in a state which does not foster individuality? Maryam is just another formerly wealthy woman who, like the rest of Egypt, is subject to the confining nature of Emergency Law. She is no one special: she is not allowed to be. Maryam's Maze provides commentary on the confining nature of Egypt's ongoing class rift, constant censorship and religious/ cultural oppression of women. The novel, culminating in an ambiguous final scene, leaves the reader with the sense that Mansoura Ez-Eldin does not feel that Egypts future is certain, but that she has a glimmer of hope for the struggling state.
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.
Pinault, David. "The Thousand and One Nights in Arabic Literature and Society." Journal of the American Oriental Society 119 (1999):536-537.
Joyce, James. "Araby." 1914. Literature and Ourselves. Henderson, Gloria, ed. Boston, Longman Press. 2009. 984-988.
Everybody wants to escape from reality, but people are bound by the laws of society, social status and financial problems. The main characters of “Araby” and “Eveline” experience
Intimate description of the inhabitants in Midaq alley gives the alley a life of it's own. Mahfouz indulges the reader in the inhabitants inner thoughts and desires; Kirsha's drug addiction and homosexuality; Zaita's sadistic nature; Hamida's untamed ambitions; Alwan's desires for Hamida; Hussain's dissatisfaction. On the other hand, there is Radwan Hussainy-the religiiou figure; Abbas the niave lover. Thus, Mahfouz created a complete sphere for a socity with the good along the bad; with the intangled destinies of the characters in Midaq Alley.
...l, many Egyptians were beginning to detest the British occupation and the Wafd Party demanded for a constitutional monarchy. Later Hamida achieves great success and power that is unique for a woman, but power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts, and eventually she will lose all the success and power to become a street prostitute working for Ibrahim Faraj.
Thus, one temperate Friday afternoon, when Khrebat minibus arrived in the neighborhood and stopped at Hajja Nima stop, Mubarak got off and asked a bystander if he knew where the Hajja Nima's residence, which the Sudanese rented, was. “You are precisely at their house,” said the young man amiably, pointing to a dilapidated one floor building atop a flat hill with a red brick fence so low-set that it almost negated the function it was built for. So Mubarak thanked the man and then walked around the fence until he was squarely in front of the dwelling. When he knocked on the half-open improvised wooden gate, a half-asleep and half-naked young man answered. The man welcomed Mubarak graciously and then ushered him into the verandah of their quarters. One thing that attracted Mubarak’s attention instantaneously was the huge number of people insi...
Although he had endured trials and tribulations to attend the bazaar, he soon finds that, exotic name withstanding, he is still in Dublin, is still impoverished, and his dreams of Araby were merely that, dreams. Our narrator remains a prisoner of his environment, his economic situation, and painful reality. North Richmond Street, the dead-end street described in the first sentence of “Araby” is more than a street. It is a symbol for the way that our protagonist views his life.