Ahmad breaking the news

In the novel Palace Walk written by Naguib Mahfouz we meet Ahmad the father of Kamal and Fahmy. We see that Ahmad is a very strict father and that he always thinks of himself. Throughout the whole novel we see that Ahmad cares more about his authority not being questioned and people recognizing him because that fed his pride. To Ahmad that is the most valuable thing that he has and we know this because he won’t even let one of his daughters marry unless the man proposing is doing it because he wants to be related to Ahmad.

In the end of the novel Fahmy dies and that in a way softens Ahmad. We see that Ahmad doesn’t know how to break it down to Amina or Kamal and when he walks in the house he hears Kamal singing “Visit me once a year/ For it’s wrong to abandon people forever” (498). This made me think about how is it that at such a moment something like that just happens by coincidence. Ahmad was entering his house with the intentions of telling Amina and Kamal that Fahmy had just died and then he hears those words. Those lyrics at that time were probably the last thing that Ahmad was expecting to hear. We realize at the end of the novel how much Ahmad really loved Fahmy because never in the novel did I read about Ahmad crying until he found out that Fahmy had died. Ahmad is a strict father but the true is that he just cares so much about his children that he’ll do anything to just protect them. Ahmad also cares about his children being able to live a life the way that Islam says life should be live.

My class was in a way wrong for saying that Ahmad really doesn’t love his children or Amina. The true is that he cares about them a lot and that is why he cannot tell Amina what has happen to Fahmy. He can't tell Amina because of the fact that he knows how important the children are to her. Ahmad is trying to figure out the best way that he could tell Amina about Fahmy but he knows that no matter what he says she will still be devastated. That’s why Ahmad doesn’t really know what to do at the end of the novel.

Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor, 1965. Print.