Midaq Alley

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 by history: "Many things combine to show that Midaq Alley is one of the gems of times gone by and that it once shone forth like a flashing star in the history of Cairo. Which Cairo do I mean? That of the Fatimids, the Mamlukes or the Sultans?" (Mahfouz 1). The book captures a great slice of life in the Cairo of the first half of this century. The novel does not describes the city, but in offers an insight into its culture, and into the profound social changes that took place during the 20th century. In short order, we are plunged into the reality of Kirsha's coffee shop, where antiquity is being assaulted in all directions. When a "senile old man" begins to play his two-stringed fiddle in accompaniment to a "prayer for the prophet," he is shouted down by the proprietor: "Are you going to force your recitations on us? That's the end -- the end! Didn't I warn you last week?" (Mahfouz 5). Kirsha tells the old poet-singer that he has been bypassed by history. "We know all the stories you tell by heart and we don't need to run through them again. People today don't want a poet. They keep asking me for a radio and there's one over there being installed now. So go away and leave us alone and may God provide for you." (Mahfouz 6). From the very beginning of the book it is know that everything is changing. The poet no longer has a place to speak, because the newer generation of men does not want to hear a poet, they will rather hear someone speak from a box. During this time period and it is still the case today. "In Cairo public places such as coffee houses and cinemas are exclusively male preserves, patronized in the evening by men while the women stay at home. (Beattie 190)"Even though he has been reciting poems for the last twenty years, his time has come and history has passed him by. Of all the people in the neighborhood who are yearning for an escape from tradition and the poverty that seems to be its permanent handmaiden, none stands out more than the young and beautiful Hamida who is the novel's central character. Living with her adoptive mother, the matchmaker Umm Hamida, she sneers at the prospective husbands who would be the ostensible pathway toward a more prosperous future. They are all "nonentities." The young Hamida envies women who have broken free of traditional bonds, especially the Jewish factory girls. She tells her mother, "If you had seen the factory girls! You should just see those Jewish girls who go to work. They all go about in nice clothes. Well, what is the point of life then if we can't wear what we want? (Mahfouz 27)" In the 1930's Cairo faced a different kind of Westernization. Italy and Germany invaded Egypt. "They offered an alternative lifestyle with more modern assets such as electricity and running water. (Lewis 348)" Also Cairo had become more diverse in terms of culture and in religion. " In The 1927 census a fifth of the population belonged to minorities. Jews, Greeks, Italians, British, and French where all in Cairo (Rodenbeck 146)." So people of Cairo had seen different types of cultures. It seemed the young generation wanted to leave the alley in search of a better life. However the older generation was pretty contempt on where they were at because they were all ready use to it. The thought of running water and electricity was not as important to them unlike the young generation because young people have more ideas, there mind wanders more than a older person because they all ready experience life.

Later on in the book, Hamida eventually agrees to marry Abbas, a neighborhood barber who she really does not care for, but who might be a ticket out of her mother's household. Not only is he poor, he is a yokel in Hamida's eyes. When he initially becomes her suitor, she is disgusted by what ordinarily constitutes the most important element of any marriage, his undying love. In spite of her limited experience in life, she was aware of the great gulf between this humble young man and her own greedy ambitions, which could ignite her natural aggressiveness and turn it into uncontrollable savagery and violence. Many aspects of Egyptian society that are describes are still very much apparent, particularly with regard to the relative standing of men and women. "For a millennium of precedent still means that women are often considered subservient to men, and that a woman's traditional place is to tame and purify men while sacrificing her own personal happiness for the good of the family (Bettie 190)". Hamida wanted to break that cycle, she was already independent talking walks by herself when a man is supposed to be watching her at all times. She would be wildly happy if she saw a look of defiance or self-confidence in anyone's eyes, but this look of simple humility in Abbas' eyes left her emotionless. She only decides to consider his marriage offer after discovering his own plans for escaping Midaq Alley. Walking next to her on the street, as she tries to fend off his advances, he finally utters the magic words that open up, if not her heart, at least her coldly calculating brain. "Yes, I am going to put my trust in God and try my luck like the others. I am going to work for the British Army and I might be as successful as your brother Hussain! (Mahfouz 85) " Abbas departs Midaq Alley to join other local residents as modern-day equivalents of camp followers of the medieval past, who made livings sharpening swords, cutting hair or slaking the lust of soldiers. However, many Egyptians benefited from the war. " The British government borrowed heavily from Egypt. The presence of troops and support personnel created additional demand for Egyptian-made goods and