Jay Hitherton's Blog

How does Mahfouz illustrate how fate is a major determiner of one’s happiness in life? Throughout the course of the novel, we can see that Mahfouz is trying to show that fate is a major determiner of one's happiness in life which may have been influenced by cultural and religious influences of Egypt. Mahfouz has portrayed this with the protagonist, Said Mahran, throughout the novel. Being brought up in an underprivileged family with various obstacles he has to face throughout his adolescence, Said is fated to go through such hardships. After he has been released from prison,  he realises that he is fated to pursue the path of revenge and violence even though there are other paths that nature has presented him such as the path of love to Nur. This may mean that he is blinded by his lack of understanding of how the world works which may also be limited to his initial upbringing. He sees that seeking revenge of what Rauf Ilwan and Ilish Sidra had done to him which may have affected ...

Passage     He was alone in the night. There was still some wine in a bottle, which he drank down to the last drop. As he stood in the dark, enveloped in the silence of the neighboring graves, slightly giddy, he began to feel that he would indeed overcome all his difficulties, that he could disdain death. The sound of mysterious music within him delighted him.     "A misdirected bullet has made of me the man of the hour!" he declared to the dark.     Through the window shutters he looked over the cemetery, at the graves lying there quiet in the moonlight.     "Hey, all you judges out there, listen well to me," he said. "I've decided to offer my own defense for myself."     Back in the center of the room he took off his gown. The room was hot, the wine had raised his body heat. His wound throbbed beneath the bandage, but the pain convinced him it was beginning to heal.     "I'm not like the others," he said, staring into ...

Naguib Mahfouz has used the Stream of Consciousness narration throughout the novel. The use of this technique throughout the novel has given us, the readers, an insight into the thought process that Naguib Mahfouz was going through during President Gamal Abdel Nasser's reign in Egypt as Mahfouz's thoughts on the Egyptian Revolution has been heavily transferred to the novel. The stream of consciousness narration helps the readers to view the story in a new perspective. The stream of consciousness narration is a type of narration that attempts to present a character's variety of thoughts which passes through their minds as the story unfolds. It is usually presented as an internal monologue within a character's mind. This type of narration can also help with the characterisation of various characters within the story yet it seems that descriptions are slanted towards the character's thoughts on the situation. This type of narration was defined by psychologist William...