Strength

Throughout Naguib Mahfouz's Palace Walk, both the men and the women in the novel display a certain type of strength. With the men, this is displayed by taking on the roll of a superior. With the women, it is a sense of fulfilling one's duty to their husband. When it comes to the protests in which the Egyptians hold in order to rid themselves of British rule, Fahmy is the first to display a different type of strength: the will to fight for what he believes in. Fahmy is a character that we first see as calm and tolerant, but as the novel comes to an end, we can see that he becomes somewhat of a hero, especially to his father Ahmad (which is shocking because Ahmad is a character who holds the largest superior attitude out of all the men). To him, superiority matters not; it is not what he considers a strength. Fahmy chooses instead to be heroic in standing for what he believes in and trying to free his country of the suppression of British rule. This is what sets Fahmy apart from his father, Ahmad.

When Ahmad is returning home from a night’s entertainment, he is stopped by a British soldier. This is the first time we see Ahmad submit to someone else’s orders rather than give them. “... [The soldier] seized him by the shoulder, forcibly turned him around, and shoved him in the back. Al-Sayyidd Ahmad found himself moving toward Palace Walk with the other man behind him. He surrendered to his fate, but his joints felt like rubber” (443). This is the first time Ahmad displays a sign of weakness. We are not used to seeing Ahmad in a vulnerable position. There is a point in during his walk where he wishes that he could communicate or even understand what his British captor was saying. He thought:

“Where was Fahmy to interpret for him? He was stung by painful

homesickness. Where were Fahmy, Yasin, Kamal, Khadija, Aisha,

and their mother? Could him family imagine his disgraceful state?

Their only image of him was one of venerable and exalted power.

Would they be able to imagine that a soldier had shoved him in the

back almost hard enough to make him fall on the ground and herded

him along like livestock?” (445).

Ahmad is in an uncompromising position and feels weak; it is the first time he will admit that one of his sons would be able to handle a situation better than he.

For the fist time, Fahmy is exercising his strength to go against his father’s will. This is not only a rebellious display against his father, but more of a commitment to his principals. He takes part in the protests although his father forbids it and gains a sense of patriotism and self worth from it. “He had not defied his father verbally but had acted against his will and had done so repeatedly. Moreover, he had refused to swear an oath the day his father had asked him to, announcing with his tears that he would stick to his principles despite his father’s wishes” (484). Fahmy even goes as far as to ask for his father’s approval to participate in the protests. Although Ahmad is still resistant, Fahmy decides to go along anyway. The fact that Fahmy had the courage and strength to put his life at risk and go against his father’s will was very brave and heroic of him. Throughout the novel we have seen that Ahmad’s relationship with Fahmy was one of the strongest and for Fahmy to risk that, and in this culture, is a very powerful thing.

When Ahmad finds out that Fahmy was killed in one of the protests he feels a pang of guilt and sadness. “...he would scrutinize Fahmy’s life in the prime of his youth, the hopes he had aroused and the memories he had left behind, giving free rein to tears so he could totally exhaust them” (497). Ahmad is worn down and realizes that his son died doing something brave for his country. This is the turning point for Ahmad; it is sad though, that it finally stuck at the expense of his son’s life. By the end of the Palace Walk we have seen the characters develop into something greater. Fahmy, a submissive son, finally stands for what he believes is right. Ahmad, a strict and egotistical father, realizes that being harsh and following the rules is not the way to earn respect and it is certainly does not compare to the strength that his son showed.

Work Cited

Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. Toronto: First American Edition, 1991. Print.