AP English
3/28/10
Naguib Mafouz wrote a tale of an Egyptian Family's struggles, compilations, marriages, divorces, male and female roles in a Muslim society, Muslim culture's trends, everything that us Westerners never really understood. Why can we not understand Muslim families? Maybe because we are predominately Christian (predominately American), because we are here and they are there, in Egypt. And Egypt? What a country filled with so much of...what was ancient Egypt; at least that's what we know. What about Modern Egypt, without the Pyramids, or lavish emperors, and everything else we boundlessly base Egypt on, on prejudice. Here is Mahfouz, writer and fantastic novelist who showed us the route to each and every character's mind, what they impulsively thought, and in turn gave us a gateway to their traditions, culture, and religion. We finally see now; as Plato might say we are no longer in the cave and out of blindness we walk, Palace Walk that is. Out of our ignorant minds we go and into theirs we venture, that's what I attempt to do. With the death of Fahmy how will the family react? How will Amina react? Will Ahmad be affected the most, and will he then in turn alter the lack of affection he expresses with his children? All questions left to ponder. But based on what we know about Aisha, about Ahmad, Kamal, Amina, the revolution for independence, one can conclude many scenarios for what exactly will proceed following the news of Fahmy's death to the family.
As Amhad sets foot just outside of Maryam's mother's home he begins slowly walking through the dark streets of the cul-de-sac, dragging his lamented body across closed stores and what seems like abandoned coffee-houses with not a single sound of life. Ahmad spotted a soldier, and Ahmad's terrifying journey unfolds.
“He saw another soldier, not the sentry, heading toward him, armed to the teeth. What new development had brought on this treatment? Was the man intoxicated? Perhaps he had been overcome by a sudden urge to attack someone? Or was he out to plunder and loot?” (442)
He encountered the soldier and was commanded to walk the way that he was not intended to walk, the way that many atrocious deaths have scolded the people who are relatives to the victims, and Ahmad prays fiercely, with the thought that he might match his fate with those dead, and his family succumb to also suffer the mourning loss of his death. It reads:
“He waded into the waves of gloomy darkness and profound silence, seeing nothing but phantom houses and hearing only the heavy footsteps that followed him with mechanical precision, as though counting out the minutes or perhaps the seconds left for him to live. Yes, he expected at each moment to be dealt a blow that would finish him off.” (443)
And Fahmy's similar terrifying journey? His encountered death, just as his father, but he was not as fortunate. Fahmy stood unable to run away. His body paralyzed, his conscience telling him to run, look away from death's inevitable stare, but it was certain that Fahmy fell to the ground, dead. There is a contrast here, between Ahmad's near-death experience and Fahmy's actual death experience. Ahmad was utterly terrified, cried even, asked God for his merciful power, and riddance of his sins. Fhamy did different; he marched in sync with his proud nation. There was an Influx of high emotions in Fahmy, the type that brought an enormous sense of prideful joy. Besides the trembling feelings that ran through his body right after he heard the gun blast, Fahmy was joyous, contempt with his nation's liberation from the English and that all peace will finally be restored. It's as if Fahmy died in peace. The bullets penetrated his body and Fahmy then sees...
“There's nothing. Nothing. Darkness and more darkness. A gentle motion's pushing with the regularity of the ticking of a clock. The heart is flowing with it. There's a whisper accompanying it. The gate of the garden. Isn't that so? It's moving in a fluid, rippling way and slowly dissolving. The towering tree is dancing gently. The sky...the sky? High, expansive...nothing but the calm, smiling sky with peace raining from it.” (493).
Yes peace; a peaceful death like the one's we all pray for to experience, on a bed, and without a budge...to silently sleep to our death. Marcell also agrees; “It’s interesting how Naguib does not outright say Fahmy is shot and killed with a bullet. Death for Fahmy did not end with darkness and nothingness, it ended with peace” According to Marcell's blog entitled “Life and Death”.
And how does Ahmad react? With immediate nothingness he “… is simply hit unexpectedly and dumbfounded” says Tianna in her article Death in the End. Ahmad locked in perplexity, looks for time alone to simmer in thought what had just happen to his son. Poor Fahmy! He must have repeated over and over in his head. He had such a promising future. The same bullets that those darn bastards of young rebels that led my son astray killed him. He is dead now, God has done everything he can to save my son from evil. But how will Amina handle such news? Ahmad shuffles his keys and finally opens the front door of his home. Amina hears the door open but avoids immediately rushing to Amhad, instead she anxiously but patiently awaits Ahmad upstairs holding a burning lamp. “What happened? Where's Fahmy?!” She shouts in her head.
"A mother knows her husband's outer as well as inner character." (212) [1]. Khadija, the wife of the great Prophet Muhammad, knew just this. She provided moral support for Muhammad, she supported Muhammad financially, and she kept aiding Muhammad even when he was having great difficulty spreading Islam. And now, that almost identical great wife, and surely mother of a murdered son, will need all the loving support and much more, to overcome her son's death. Amina knew just then that something truly horrendous had manifested. She saw it through her husband’s outer and inner character. But what could Ahmad do anyway? Besides fall to his knees tirelessly and mournfully yell, “in God's merciful hands you took my son away from me!” Though he wanted to, though it was the easiest way to relieve his pain, Ahmad did not do so. Instead he imagined such a scenario play out. This would of only made matters a lot worse, Amina's heart more fragile.
Aisha couldn't of been more vulnerable; she had given birth, she was extremely exhausted to the point of knocking out unconscious as a result from the painful contractions, and now, a few spoken words away awaited the horrible news of her dear brother's death. No, not even her angelic aesthetics could hide the sorrow that will indulge her. And just a few days ago life was born, her baby though with a weak heart, alive at least.
Not the slightest bit of noise erupted, and yet Kamal managed to seize the moment once again, to stand out, as the youngest of five should do. Oh Kamal, what a comical little dude he is, completely blind to the level of devastation that will creep up on him. His older brother is dead and here he is, melodiously voicing and moving his body to the words that say: “Visit me once each year, for it's wrong to abandon people forever.” (498). How can death be explained to a young soul, a child such as Kamal, a kid so joyous and full of life. Ahmad will be the barrier of such sad news, for Amina would be too emotionally exhausted from weeping, and besides what mother wants to tell their young son that his big brother was killed, that job is better suited for the father, for the strongest-minded, for Ahmad. But even the great Ahmad, perceived as a God-like figure in his home (as Daniela stated in her article , has trouble thinking of a way to tell Kamal of Fahmy's death.
Fahmy, finally letting go of the pains that correlate with mentioning Maryam and fully introducing his country's unity, independence, sacrifices in order to gain back Egypt, into his heart. He suffered a fatal round of bullets...but at least: “Fahmy left the house happy. He went at once to al-Azhar, where he met with his colleagues on the supreme student committee.”
Work Cited
1. "Amazon.com: Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy) (9780385264662): Naguib Mahfouz: Books." Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & More. Web. 06 Apr. 2010.
2. Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy). New York: Anchor, 1990. Print.
3. Johnson, Marcell. "Life and Death." Web log post. Digging Even Deeper. Blogger, Mar.-Apr. 2010. Web. 3 Apr. 2010.
4. Bruno, Tianna. "Death in the End." Web log post. Digging Even Deeper. Blogger, 26 Mar. 2010. Web. 05 Apr. 2010. <4.>.
5. Barajas, Daniela. "He's Human After All." Web log post. Digging Even Deeper. Blogger, 24 Mar. 2010. Web. 05 Apr. 2010.
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