A Father's True Thoughts

"He felt a boundless confidence and pride in this answer but later had acknowledged that his treatment actually had changed, although he had tried to keep anyone from detecting his hidden intention to change" (Mahfouz 285). We feel a sense of regret and compassion coming from Ahmad in this chapter. Mahfouz puts this paragraph here, after the arguement between him and his son, Yasim, because he wants us to slightly see the parternal side in Ahmad.

The way Mahfouz has dialog from only Ahmad in this chapter allows you to get into Ahmad's head and truly understand how he feels. Ahmad mentions that he reacted upon anger; trying to justify his actions. Ahmad's attitude and deffensive tone allows the reader to comprehend that Ahmad does love his children and that he didn't want to hurt Yasim. Mahfouz illustrates Ahmad's affection by having him look back at his past. He is recreating the emotions and moments that Ahmad went through. It shows that Ahmad has a passionate side and feelings.

"Marriage..."

My paragraph is located in chapter 10 which is about Fahmy taking Kamal up to the roof every day to make him practice his vocabulary. It turns out that this is not the only reason why he takes him up to the roof, Fahmy actually goes up there because he likes to see the girl next door whom he is in love with. Fahmy starts stating the words so that Kamal can tell him the definition but he gets so distracted by the girl that he starts saying the words heart, love, and marriage.

My paragraph, on page 61, comes right after Fahmy has just stated the word marriage. The placement of this paragraph is very important because in it we see that the girl finally shows a reaction to what Fahmy is saying. It is important to notice that this reaction is made to the word marriage, and not heart or love. This fact shows that the are both in love with each other and that they might be willing to get married and do things the proper way because their romance is wrong to the eyes of their strict society. That the girl is letting herself be seen by Fahmy is itself an offence to their culture but even in a strict culture like theirs, there is still room for love.

Another factor that shows the love Fahmy feels for this girl is seen in Mahfouz's style of writing. He is so descriptive when it comes to showing the character's emotions. In this paragraph he writes, "he had at least been able to transmit to her a charge of the electricity blazing in his heart" (61). Here he is describing Fahmy's love for this girl and I don't think he could have chosen a better choice of words to make us feel what Fahmy feels.

Yasin's Lust

In Naguib Mahfouz’s Palace Walk, Yasin is a character that takes after his father, Ahmad, but not in the dealings of business or being someone of high respect. Yasin takes after his father’s vices: partying and women. In the novel, we immediately see that Yasin is a lustful creature. Every time he talks about a woman, it is entirely sexual. He describes their bodies and treats them as objects, always referring to them with obscenities. When he attempts to rape Umm Hanafi, his father feels that it is best to marry him off to one of his friend’s daughters. Ahmad does this in hopes that Yasin will settle down and stop tainting his name; if he is married, he will be seen with more respect than being a single, licentious rapist.


Before his marriage, Yasin was entertaining himself with a woman named Zanuba. He was vey lustful with her and would call her whenever he was in need of pleasure. However, when he gets married to Zaynab, he comes to realize that Zanuba means nothing to him emotionally and now that he has a wife, nothing to him at all (even physically).

“When Yasin thought about his bride, a bestial tremor passed

through his body. Then he remembered the last night... with

Zanuba. He had informed her of his impeding marriage and told her

he was saying goodbye to her... Zanuba no longer meant anything to

him, nor did any other woman. He had lowered the curtain on that

side of his life forever. He might return to drinking, because he

thought his desire for that would not die, but as for women, he could

not imagine his eyes straying when he had a beauty at his disposal.

His bride was a renewable resource and a spring of water for the wild

thirst that had troubled his existence so frequently” (299).

Ahamd was right: If Yasin were given a beautiful wife, he would settle down and then have someone to submit to his lusts. Yasin and Zaynab’s marriage was proving just this until Yasin’s lusts began to resurface. There were times when she would satisfy them, “...her vivacity and desire had increased. When he would think that sleep had become a necessity after such a long period of activity, before he knew it her leg would be flung over his as if of its own accord. So he told himself, ‘How amazing...she’s the one who’s realizing my dreams for our marriage’” (308), but most of the time he was just disappointed that he had left his lustful life behind.

To Yasin: “Marriage’s external appearance was beguiling, tempting enough to die for, but inside it was so staid and sedate that a person might become indifferent of disgusted” (307). He began to lose interest in having a permanent woman at his disposal. Ahmad’s idea had failed because Zaynab was unable to satisfy Yasin’s thirst for lust. Yes, she did try to satisfy him as best she could, but Yasin wants more than one woman can give him and this is what Ahmad failed to take into account. One good thing, in Ahmad’s view, did come from Yasin’s marriage: Yasin’s honor was secured. Because he got married, his offenses of sleeping with other women are not as costly as they would be if he were single.

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

Love and Marriage

Naguib Mahfouz is able to give the reader a taste of the fear that Amina feels in chapter twenty-nine of Palace Walk, after the accident (her being hit by a car) has taken place. Since the novel is written in third person, we are given a description of the fear that everyone in the house feels when the question of how they will confront Ahmad is brought about. To her surprise, however, Ahmad did not resort to anger, as predicted. Instead he told her to “‘Stay in bed till God heals you’” (184). When he leaves the room, Mahfouz describes Aisha’s reaction. “Her pale face blushed when she remembered the affection he had showered on her when she had been expecting nothing but his overwhelming anger that would blow her and her future away. Yes, she felt both pride and embarrassment when she started to talk about their father’s sympathy for her in her time of need and how he had forgotten his anger because of the affection and pity that had seized hold of him” (185). “Pride” and “embarrassment” are words that do not go hand in hand. Amina seems to be lying to herself about Ahmad’s affection for her. It is as if she wishes that it were really affection that Ahmad felt instead of an obligation to their marriage.

As I have mentioned in my previous response “Love, Lust, and Custom,” in Islamic culture, marriage is something that everyone must do. Love does not necessarily play a role in every marriage. With Amina and Ahmad's marriage, as Westerners, we find ourselves scrutinizing their marriage and declaring that there is no love involved. Perhaps this is true; maybe Amina is attempting to find love in the littlest things. As human beings, we strive for love, especially women. But who are we to judge or define love? In Islamic culture, I have noticed that marriage is love. We believe that love comes before marriage, and sometimes this holds true for Islamic culture as well, but usually marriage comes first in Islamic culture and the two newlyweds must learn to love one another because divorce is frowned down upon.

In the case of Amina and Ahmad, Amina feels that Ahmad must feel some kind of affection toward her since he did not get angry at her venture outside. But there is also a feeling lingering in her private thoughts that this may not be enough. “Privately she might have wished he would complete his kind treatment of her by renouncing his night out, as was appropriate for a husband whose wife had suffered what she had. Since she knew his temperament well, though, she fabricated an excuse for him ... She would justify his departure with the excuse she had already invented...” (188). It is clear that Amina wishes for Ahmad to be more caring about her fragile situation, but in the end she gives in and accepts that she will receive no more affection from him.

In the article,“Marriage in Islam,” there is a section that discusses love and how it is viewed in Islamic culture. Love is something that does not last, it is a feeling that can end; whereas marriage is a commitment that is necessary in Islamic society. “Love blinds people to potential problems in the relationship. Arranged marriages on the other hand, are based not on physical attraction or romantic notions but rather on critical evaluation of the compatibility of the couple. This is why they often prove successful.” This article makes a valid point: successful marriages are successful only if those married are compatible. Love waivers, but if two people meet each others needs, then there would be no reason for them to part. It is somewhat of a convenience factor. So although Amina desires to be loved, this is not necessarily the case in her marriage. When Ahmad summons her to return home after dismissing her, it is not he who comes to get her from her mother's house, but her sons. The reason for summoning her must have had to do with the fact that he needs her in his life, not for love, but to carry out her duties as his wife; he needs her for the convenience.


Works Cited

1.Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor, 1990. Print.

2."Marriage in Islam." Jannah.Org :: Islam the Eternal Path to Peace. Web. 20 Mar. 2010. .

Successful Marriage

In Naguib Mahfouz's Palace Walk, marriage is a topic that is hard to understand, but is all the more intriguing because of it. It's been difficult for the most part, figuring out what makes a successful marriage. Why is it that Amina and Ahmad have been married for 25 years, when Ahmad has proven to not be a husband that many women crave? Ahmad sneaks out on his wife all the time with various women like Zubayda and his next-door neighbor Bahija Ridwan, yet Amina stays right there through it all. In this book, marriage is such a complex part of life that research was necessary to understand what muslims believe to be important in a marriage. According to the Qur'an, Muslims are to believe that “...among [Allah's] signs is this that He created for you spouses of your own kind, that you may dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy for one another...” (Qur'an 30:21). As devout Muslims, which is what they characters of the book (especially Ahmad) are, they should base all of their marriages off of this because this is their law for living a truly Muslim lifestyle. This is the basis of their faith and what they should believe as Muslims. Although there are other marriages in the book that are unsuccessful, Ahmad learns that what's important to keep a marriage alive is this verse in the Qur'an. During his first marriage to Haniya, Yasin's mother, he didn't practice that mercy that is mentioned in the Qur'an but he learns to use it during his marriage to Amina, which turns out to be the most successful marriage in Palace Walk.
The short-lived marriage of Yasin and Zaynab is very similar to the ones between Ahmad and Haniya, Yasin's mother. When Ahmad was married to Haniya he admitted to actually enjoying living with her, which is the only true emotion for women Ahmad is rumored to have outside of lust (106). Like Marixa said in her blog, Ahmad and Women, in the book, we haven't really seen much emotion out of Ahmad for women besides lust. Haniya seems to have been the only woman who brought a little of that out of him, that is until he met Amina. But the “love” is short-lived when Haniya shows that she's a woman who won't take just anything from her husband. Ahmad began to beat her when she would leave the house or do anything that he didn't want her to do. Instead of loving her and treating her like a human being instead of a dog that you train, their marriage ends up failing. This marriage, like many other marriages in the book including Ahmad's current marriage to Amina, could be or could've been a lot better if the husband would put his wife first instead of him trying to seem like a masculine guy who can control his wife. It also could've been successful if Ahmad had learned to practice the mercy that the Qur'an speaks on. Had Ahmad shown mercy to his wife and put her needs before his own needs to be fulfilled as a “man”, many things in his life would have been different. Yasin wouldn't have a strained relationship with his own mother, and probably wouldn't have the outlook on women that he has now.
After his marriage to Haniya, Ahmad goes on to marry Amina. Amina is a totally different wife to Ahmad than Haniya is and she proves to be more along the lines of a wife that he wants. She's quiet, meek, obedient, and most importantly, fearful of him. She's scared to do anything that Ahmad might not approve of, and when she does, her worst fear comes true. When she leaves the house and goes outside to visit al-Husayn, Ahmad finds out and kicks her out. Right then, it seems that Ahmad has gone back to the old ways that got him in trouble with his first marriage. He seems to solve his problems with women by putting them out. But, he knew that just putting her out his house would cease to function. Even though it took him until the end of the book to truly realize, he's not all powerful. Like Daniela said in her blog, He's Human After All, he at some point began to realize that he needs help with things and he can't do everything on your own. When he takes her back, he practices what the Qur'an says is important in a successful marriage, and that's mercy. The act of mercy includes showing compassion to someone and forgiving them for something they've done. When Ahmad finally learns the importance of mercy and showing it in his marriage, he admits to not being perfect and needing help in their home.
At first, Ahmad doesn't seem to be capable of loving anyone besides himself. Once he learned to show love to someone besides himself, he begins to have a successful marriage. That love, like the Qur'an stated, is necessary to have a successful marriage but not just in the book but in real life. In Ahmad's first marriage to Haniya, he doesn't truly love her and doesn't practice mercy on her. Love and mercy should go hand in hand with one another. If you truly love someone, then you show them mercy because you can look past the bad things they've done and forgive them. But, if you want to leave them just because they did something you don't agree with, then that's not love. That's why it's obvious that Ahmad loves Amina. He gets angry with her, he cheats on her and sometimes treats her badly, and I'm not saying that all those things are acceptable for a husband to do to his wife. But, at the end of the day, he always thinks of his wife. When he's taken away by the British soldiers, his mind goes to his family, and it's not just the kids but her as well. Even though Ahmad is still a selfish man, he learns to make room for someone else in his life, and apparently Amina was good enough to fit the bill of that person.




Works Cited
1.The Holy Quran. Maulana Muhammad Ali, 2002. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. .

2.Barajas, Daniela. "He's Human After All." Web log post. He's Human After All. 24 Mar. 2010. Web. 5 Apr. 2010. .

3.Rodriguez, Marixa. "Ahmad and Women." Web Log post. Digging Even Deeper: Ahmad and Women. 20 Mar. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. .

4.Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy). New York: Anchor, 1990. Print.

Foreshadowing

Picture by
D'Arcy Vallance
"He had entered the nest of matrimony with no leftover desires and heart full of good intentions..." (308). Yasin imagined marriage this way. Little did he know what lay ahead of him.

Mahfouz says:

[Yasin] saw the similarity between his father’s character and that of his own mother. Both of them were sensual and pleasure-seeking. They ignored convictions…The relationship between them had ended quickly, because a man like him could not stand a woman like her, and vice versa. In fact, married life would have been impossible for his father, if he had not happened to upon his current wife. (298)

As I read this passage, I began to think more about Yasin than about his parents. Yasin himself is a lot like his father. As Dominique Hackett mentioned on one of his blogs, people inherit certain things from their parents genetically that affect the way they act. Here I’m not talking about eye color or height; I’m talking about Yasin inheriting his father’s lustful ways, and maybe even his mothers’ ways.

I kept this passage in mind as I read, and when I started seeing the way Zaynab behaves, I wondered if Yasin could have long relationship with her. Yasin and Zaynab reminded me about Ahmad and his first wife. All four of them are pleasure-seekers in different ways, but in the end they want to enjoy the pleasures of life, Yasin with women, and Zaynab with freedom, as she lived with her father. There is definitely a similarity between Yasin’s and Zaynab’s character. “Both of them [are]...pleasure-[seekers]” (298).

If his father and hi mother couldn’t stand each other because they were similar, why should Yasin and Zaynab be able to stand each other? Later we learn that Yasin cheats on Zaynab, and she decides to leave him. She is not Amina; she will not stand the humiliation. She managed to be patient for a little bit, but “she could no bear to be patient and forgiving any longer” (386).

Yasin thinks that if a woman like Amina hadn’t appeared on his father’s path, than “married life would have been impossible for his father” (298). As I said before Yasin is so much like his father, so how could we expect Yasin to last with Zaynab if she is basically the opposite of Amina? Yasin needs a woman like Amina, someone that will be submissive and obedient.

I thought about all this points, as I learned more about how different, or liberal, Zaynab is, and came to see that Yasin and her would probably not last. I feel like the author foreshadowed the separation of Yasin and Zaynab using the passage at the beginning of this blog. It doesn’t take much effort to see how masterfully he makes it all fit in like a puzzle.

NOTE: When I found that Zaynab had left her home, I wondered how did she have the courage to do that and if she even could do that. I will not lie; I thought that in the Muslim culture you got married and never had the chance to get divorced. You either stay married or died. That’s what I assumed, but I did a little research and found that it was somewhat this way in ancient Egypt. But in modern Egypt law have been changed to make it more possible for women to get divorced if they want to.

Bibliography
1. Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor Books, 1991.
2. “Talking health to men.” 2000.Women’s Rights. March 3, 2010.
<http://library.thinkquest.org/C001142/countries/egypt.php>

All Daughters are Made Equal

On page 236-237, we become aware of Aisha's chance to get married. This comes as a surprise because earlier in the book, we read that their family wanted Khadijah to become married before Aisha does. Aisha's excited to finally be moving on but Khadijah isn't really excited to see her little sister, to whom she shows a bit of resentment, get married before she does. Mahfouz writes, "Khadijah did not enjoy affectionate words of comfort when defeated. She received Aisha's statement with unconcealed annoyance" (237). My question at this point is whether Khadijah should be happy for her sister instead of annoyed and jealous with her. I mean, earlier in the book, on page 144, everyone was excited for her when they thought she was potentially going to get married, but now that it's shifted to her sister, she refuses to be angry. This contrast in behavior made me think about why is it so expected for older sisters to get married first. According to this website, I know that the marrying age for females in this culture is 16 and for males it's 18, but both Aisha and Khadijah are over that age. (Egypt) So why is it so important that Khadijah be married first? According to the book, they see Khadijah not being engaged as being bad luck, which I also don't understand. I think they should be happy that she got proposed to in the first place, and not complain about the order it's done in.

Also, putting so much emphasis on seeing that Khadijah be married first, creates a strained relationship between Aisha and Khadijah. Khadijah now feels resentment towards her own sister, who doesn't deserve to be treated that way. It's not like Aisha in some way made it so that she could be married first, yet Khadijah treats her like it was somehow her fault (237). She also begins to lose faith in her family and how much did she mean to them. She starts to believe that her father no longer loves her the way he used to. She loses sight in the love that keeps their family together anyways (238).


1. Egypt. Emory, 1998. Web. 26 Feb. 2010. .

2. Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy). New York: Anchor, 1990. Print.

Marriage is Lost

The topic of marriage in the book Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz has been quite a controversy in our class discussions. I didn’t really look into it until chapter 33 where Amina finds herself kicked out of her own home after Ahmad puts her out because she disobeyed him and went to the shrine of her master al-Husayn when he was gone. Curiosity struck me and I decided to research the statistics of marriages in the 1930’s. One thing I see if that Ahmad has a very unfair marriage with Amina. Her companion for life does not treat her with the respect that she should get after raising three children and one-step child. Ahmad should treat her with all of the respect that a women of her caliber needs.
As I researched I came upon some information on the decline of marriages during the 1930s. It read, “Evidence of this crisis existed in the registers of the religious courts for that and the previous year. These registers demonstrated that the number of marriages was gradually declining” (Al-Ahram Weekly). This made me realize that almost all of the marriages in Egypt during the 1930s were arranged marriages. Amina, like most girls in Egypt was married at a young age without knowing how to love. After Amina gets put out of her house for going out without permission her husband puts her out and sends her to her mothers house. Amina’s mother says, “ But your husband? … An intelligent man going on fifty… can he find no other way to express his anger than by throwing out the companion of a lifetime and separating her from her children? (202). Exactly. Amina’s mother said it loud and clear the “companion of a lifetime” this is something you don’t just give up on. My reasoning is that marriage that are arranged tend to be treated more as a treaty not something you do because you are in love and you want to make a family. This is because Ahmad and every other male take marriage as being something that you do when you are an adult. They don’t take proper care of it, and just throw people out of their homes when things stop running smoothly. Its like both the men and the women care more about their children than their own marriage and relationship with their husband or wife. Amina tells her mother, “The only thing bothering me is that I’m anxious about my children, Mother” (203). Amina makes that comment as if Ahmad was slowly being erased from the family portrait and she had lost complete affection towards him. To me this shouldn’t be like this. Marriages are being broken apart due to the lack of love that the partners feel for each other. Marriage should be something sacred that we want to experience not something we have to do when we reach adulthood.

Work Cited:
1. "Al-Ahram Weekly | Chronicles | Wedding woes." Al-Ahram Weekly | Front Page. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .

2. Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk (Cairo Trilogy). New York: Anchor, 1990. Print.

Real Love or just Anger?

In the novel Palace Walk, we are reading about an Egyptian family who’s household is run by their father Ahmad. This Egyptian book takes place in the 1920’s when the British in 1922 had just left Egypt. Meaning that Egypt had just received their independence from Britain and were also very well influenced by the British. Lets remember that in the British culture woman were to stay home and do all of the household chores. The one thing that never happened in Britain were arrange marriages, unless of course you were royalty.
“Glancing at their mother with shame and embarrassment, Yasin laughed and said, The truth is that there’s a very strong link between the anger and the engagement”(286).
Yasin and his father Ahmad seemed to of gotten in an argument just because Yasin wants to get married. Now it seems that Ahmad is just getting angry because of the fact that Yasin doesn’t respect his decision. Why does Yasin have to say that the engagement is linked to the argument? Yasin is probably saying that so that in case his father hasn’t gotten the message maybe that statement will make it clearer. Earlier in the book we see how Yasin is proud of the fact that his father is a great lover. Yasin might be getting mad at his father because he sees that his father is a great lover and is trying to figure out why is it that his father doesn’t want him to do that to.
When the British still ran the Egyptian country they influenced the Egyptians a lot. In the British culture it was also ok for man to have a mistress but it was never ok for a woman to have a lover. Also women were not allow to write books just like in Egypt women are not allow to go to school. Thanks to Britain Egypt learned many things about discriminating women but they didn’t only learn it from the British they also learned it from the Quran. Palace Walk shows many ways in which women have no choice but to listen to the man because if they don’t then they will be embarrass and consider sluts.

http://heritage-key.com/egypt/egypt-and-era-discovery

There are no limits

In my Mexican culture, spouses are obligated to bestow respect to their other half. I have seen this in my grandparents, parents, and sister. It is for this same reason that it’s hard for me to understand the way marriage is portrayed in the novel Palace Walk. Egyptian Muslims portray marriage as a symbol of power, the ability to support a family financially. Once married, women are kept trapped in the walls of their houses without permit to leave the house unsupervised by their husband. Women must also be submissive to their husband to the point they would almost worship them as their God.

Amina is an exemplary example of a married Muslim woman. She is submissive to her husband to the point where she believes the fear he kindles in her is nothing but love. There is no other place she wishes to be at, but by her husband’s side, Mr. Ahmad. His companionship gives her strength to make of her life a better one. For a fact, he is the reason why she no longer needs an alarm to awake her at the middle of the night to wait for her dearest husband arriving from late night partying. Amina does not care if she has no input in any of the decisions her husband makes. She is not bothered if Ahmad arrives home past midnight, half drunk, and with an attitude that proves he enjoys spending time with his friends more than spending time with her. Above all this, Amina shows her husband that he is a successful man by making her opinion whatever he wishes it to be.

In one occasion, while Ahmad was drinking coffee, Amina informed him that one of Fahmy’s friends had asked for a request to become engaged to Aisha (154). Furious Ahmad awoke and made his disapproval clear. He was not going to tolerate his younger daughter marrying before his older daughter. Ahmad then asked Amina for her opinion. She responded saying that her opinion was the same as his and that she had no opinion of her own (156). This proves that Amina is not brave to share her own opinion with her husband. Her opinion was the opposite of Ahmad’s. She would gladly accept the proposal the officer had made to marry her younger daughter Aisha. Even though she knows she has an opinion of her own, she refuses to let Ahmad be aware of it. She knows her husband well, and knows that it’s best to do anything that will keep him satisfied.

Another occasion that proves the blind love Amina has towards her husband is when she fails to lie about the incident she suffered. Every member of the house was ready to make up the incident their mother had rather than confessing the truth to their father. They were going to hide the fact that while he was gone, Amina had disobeyed him by leaving the house to visit her master al- Husayn. All the children, the servant, and Amina planned to tell Ahmad that she had fallen down the stairs. This would keep Amina out of trouble and would bring her husband’s pity towards her. Amina was convinced to be able to lie to her husband and keep her secret well hidden, but once she faced her husband, her enthusiasm to lie vanished. Amina pleaded for strength to keep her secret, but was defeated by her husband’s amazement and increased tone of voice. She had no other option but to confess. Once she confessed that she was “struck by an automobile” (183), Amina “could no longer bear to hesitate. She resolved to give a complete confession, no matter what the consequences. She was like a person who risks his life in a dangerous surgical operation to get relief from a painful disease he can no longer endure” (183). This is how far her devotion to her husband goes.

I’m not stating that lying to a husband is something positive. I know is not, but a wife should not be afraid to tell the truth to their own husband. This case is very complicated for me to understand since it’s another culture. I believe Amina, and other Muslims, have no trouble admitting that it is okay for a woman to fear their beloved and honorable husbands. Their beliefs allow them to force themselves to be submissive to an extreme degree.

Work cited: Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor, 1990

A father's Influence

Lauren F. Clemons


Yasin is the son of Ahmad and his first wife, whom both Ahmad and Yasin aren't very fond of. The strained relationship between Yasin's mother and Ahmad began when they were first married and she proved to be a woman who was a little too free for his liking. He divorced her with the intent of getting back together with her later on, but she only wanted to come back if he would promise not to beat her (107). He grew so angry with her for not crawling back to him that he finalized their divorce and never looked back. Years later, Ahmad still grows angry just by hearing the mentioning of his first wife (106) which to me is strange because they've been separate for eleven years now. What could possibly still be the problem with Ahamd and his first wife.

Ahmad's a very arrogant man, who believes that women should just flock to him, no questions asked. He expected nothing less from his first wife, and made sure of that in their marriage. When he decided to divorce her, he only had the intent of carrying it out for a little while, but things didn't go as planned. He believed that she should come crawling back to him carrying no stipulations are conditions. When she did, he grew embarrassed. He thought he was high, mighty and powerful enough to get her back without having to work on himself. When he didn't get his way, he left her alone without even being able to keep a relationship with her son. To do this, just because she only agreed to come back if he wouldn't hit her strikes me as odd. If he really cared about her, then simply agreeing to keep his hands off her shouldn't have been an issue. But with Ahmad, being married is not for happiness, but it's because he wants to be a man. He wants to only allow his wife certain freedoms, and make sure she understands that he's the man. He couldn't allow her to come back into his house if she even thought she could tell him what to do. So he ran off simply because he coudn't have his way.

The passage that made me realize this about Ahmad is on page 106, when Mahfouz writes about Ahmad's anger he still has inside. The sheer embarrassment he felt could still be seen eleven years later. This passage is also when we begin to see how Ahmad's feelings about his first wife have rubbed off on his son. On page 107, Mahfouz writes, “The woman was at least forty, and Yasin was fully grown and aware of his ability to defend his honor from harm and humiliation,”. His mother's remarriage probably isn't necessarily an extremely controversial issue at this time since he also says a little before that sentence that this marriage is one of her more honorable mistakes. Mahfouz states that Yasin simply believes “this anticipated marriage seemed more outrageous than the previous ones and more calculated to cause pain” (107). He sincerely believes, like his father, that she's doing these things to dishonor them and embarrass them. Ahmad's beliefs have influenced Yasin to a point where he doesn't even seem to care at all about his mother. When he goes to visit her, he can't even morsel up any small act of love to show to her.