Midaq Alley

Commentary

Yusuf was a very ordinary boy. He enjoyed much freedom in his childhood since he was not the eldest son and thus not much was expected from him. In the first passage, the narrator tells us that fate and history conspired to make him a sultan. He says so since when he was young the thought of him becoming one of the most powerful men alive was unfathomable. Yusuf is happy with his status; he even impresses the reader to the point of intimidation when he stated "your head might roll".

The first passage can even be considered to be an ode to power. The sultan admires this gift that has so much control over most people and especially his subjects. Yusuf is bewildered of how it transformed a frail young kid into one of the most influential models of the Arab world.

The second paragraph supports the first in the perspective of how ordinary the narrator was as a child. He even gave into peer pressure and killed snakes with his friends. However, he uses foreshadowing before citing his misdemeanors; he confides with the reader that his grandmother was the only one who saw his potential. She was a well respected and powerful individual during in his life. Her family showed her the utmost respect, for example she slapped her adult son on the face and his esteem for her held him back from even shouting at her. This leaves us wondering about the protagonist's upcoming fate.

At the sight of the young child torturing the snake, his grandmother calls him to approach her. The narrator tries to mislead the reader by making him think, considering she was ill-tempered, that yusuf would suffer repercussions. However, rather than being struck, the boy is in awe when his guardian kisses him and praises him. After sharing her dream with her grandson, yusuf commented that his father had ridiculed it. This reinforces the statement that he was underestimated as a kid.