Dangerous Desire

"With his mouth hanging open, he advanced gently and cautiously. He was oblivious to everything except the mountain of flesh spread at his feet. To his greedy eyes this body appeared to be preparing itself to receive him. He hesitated before her legs. Then, almost unconscious of what he was doing, little by little he leaned down over her, driven by urgent internal and external stimuli. Before he knew it, he was sprawled out on top of her. He had perhaps not intended to go this far all at once. Perhaps he had not intended to indulge in some of the foreplay that ought to precede the final violent motions, but terror, and a resounding scream escaped, before his hand could stifle it. The pervasive silence was shattered and his brain was dealt a blow that brought him back to his senses. He put his hand over her mouth as he whispered anxiously and fearfully in her ear, "It's me. Yasin. It's Yasin, Umm Hanafi. Don't be afraid""(277-278).

Mahfouz reveals the outrageous behavior of one of Ahmad's children. He uses up to about a page and a half to describe the various actions of one child that lead up to the one action of desire. Yasin was craving the body of another woman but settled for what was already being offered to him at home. Yasin knew the consequences of everything he was doing but wasn't listening to anything besides that strong desire that told him to do what he would in order to quench the thirst of his lustful desire. Mahfouz uses ethos through description as done through this entire chapter or any other chapter to present the uncontrollable yet disciplined desires of the men in this culture. Yasin really presents the reader with a scene that will give a sense of how much a woman's body isn't something revealed every where and every day as it is now, and how there are many regulations to live by. Talk about temptation. It only made sense -logos- that when there is a body laid there for you, when your body and mind are craving lust, you will jump to devour what is basically handed to you. Mahfouz really sets the scene to present the thoughts and actions of Yasin as he analyzes everything although he is very drunk. Although Yasin is drunk, he finds it in himself to not take chances of getting caught and not quenching his desire and stay at home to quench it with the body that was " preparing itself to receive him"(277).