What is Fame? Glory?

"I feel that you have chosen the better part in life. What is fame? What is glory? The grave awaits us all!" (30) says Achille Papin, in a letter informing the sisters of Babette's arrival. Fame is a path in life that we have all contemplated over. So many people want to take that path, some will commit an act of treason in order to share even a spec of the spotlight. Achille Papin has undergone fame and glory through Opera performances, but his prime has passed, and Opera singing is something that has left a bittersweet memory in his mind. A French singer (male voice) and a Norwegian church singing novice (female voice) would of possible renewed Papin's career, and stern back more triumphant fame. But unfortunately Miss Phillipa refused to proceed a Opera career. Perhaps the question should be changed to: what is fame and glory without Phillipa? Nothing. And the sisters Phillipa and Martine, according to Achille Papin, chose the better path, but I say Martine and Phillipa chose a less hurtful path; a path less risk-prone. And when Papin uses the word "better" he is referring more to the level of comfortableness, in my opinion.

We will all meet our burials one day, but this inevitable reality should stop anyone from pursuing their grand-esk dreams.


Dinesen, Isak. Anecdotes of Destiny ; And, Ehrengard. New York: Vintage, 1993.

What is the Water Seller's role in the Play?

Yes he sells water, and has a more difficult time selling when it begins to rain, but Wong is not just preoccupied with quenching the thirst of innocent citizens who dare and buy his tainted water. To appear in every slot, every minute of the plot, Wong must be a pretty busy man. Is Wong some kind of facilitator?-By giving the latest news to the three Gods, usually involving Shen Te.

"Wong: She had to call on her cousin again. But not even he could help. I'm afraid is done for.
Third God (a little concerned): Perhaps we should help after all?" (70)

Perhaps we have been sleeping on Wong young fellow bloggers; Wong's purpose is much more pertinent than you might realize. Wong remains steady and consistent in terms of having talks with the Gods. Besides Shen Te, and at the end of the play where the court exposes the Gods to every character, Wong is the main character that interacted with higher beings (the three Gods).

Not bad for a water seller.

A Conclusion to Palace Walk

Luis Navarro
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. .

Ahmad's terrifying journey

It begins when Ahmad 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 coffe-houses with not a single trace of life. Ahmad spotted a soldier, and this is where the author, Mahfouz, goes into the mind of Ahmad:

“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, and soon Mahfouz breaks his magic again; his wonderful description, into Ahmad's thoughts:

“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)

It's like Mafhouz is describing the surroundings in order for the reader to have an image of the place and diving into Ahmad's thoughts simultaneously. It is through Ahmad's eyes (that Mahfouz writes with) that we both can see the surroundings and what Ahmad is thinking;
“When he reached the corner of al-Khurunfush, his eyes were attracted by rays of light flashing in the darkness. He looked along the street and saw a lantern carried by another soldier driving before him an uncertain number of figures. He wondered whether the soldiers had been given orders to capture all the men they came across at night. Where were they leading them? What punishment would be meted out?” (444)
Three pages of non-stop description taking the reader into truly a character's pensive and fearful mind; this is descriptive narration. The novel is written in third person omnipotent, but the author Naguib Mahfouz goes into deep thought of his characters so zealously, that I often feel that Mahfouz is Ahmad, that Mahfouz is the one walking through the food markets and bars of Palace Walk. But one can easily distinguish Ahmad's thoughts versus what Mahfouz is describing in your head, it's just that this is all done with so much mastery and swiftness.

Yasin Yasin

What is it about men having more of a reputation for cheating on their wife, than say a woman, particularly in the Muslim World? Yasin commits the most unfaithful act in Muslim culture; he cheats on his wife, with not even a single month of official marriage between the two. Deception is the enemy, the root cause to blame, that Yasin uprooted to seduce Zaghlul. But if the reason for marriage was more intrenched in pure love and commitment; if Yasin's decision to marry was stronger in purpose, than deception wouldn't of been such a potent factor in him cheating on his wife. “If love was straight foward and unchanging, that would be easy to acknowledge. But, when you take a close look at the nature of love and romance, one thing becomes clear: Love creates both happiness and heartache, opportunities and constraints, joy and sorrow.”[1] Is love to blame or Yasin (and his animal-esk lustful needs)? The predatory-like mind set is, in a larger sense, in all of us (after all, we are mammals that have sexual needs just as we have needs for a longing partner). I am not justifying Yasin's unfaithful actions, but I am considering the fact that as human beings, we have strong desires(sexual) perhaps. It is when the Love is strong, and not utterly futile, that a marriage can prosper. After all reflecting back on how the entire marriage was arranged, Yasin's options weren't so fluid; it was a rough and forced marriage influenced majorly by Ahmad.

1. http://www.authorsden.com/categories/article_top.asp?catid=57&id=17251

Mother of Islam

" 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, she kept aiding Muhammad when he was having great difficulty spreading Islam. And now that same great wife, and surely mother of kids, is away. Amina is staying at her mother's home, because she disobeyed Ahmad, she went outside in which she got exposed, and gravest of all she left the house. But once the mother of a household leaves a place that lived, breathed, functioned, harmoniously functioned with her daily chores, cooked meals, and recitals of suras from the Qu'ran, love and care for the sons and daughters, than the preceding rising conflicts between the sisters, or the reavelment of Ahmad's affair doesn't all seem to come out of the blue
anymore.
"Of all of them, Khadija and Aisha appeared to be the most distressed by the absence of their mother. In addition to their sorrow, which was shared by their brothers, the two of them had to bear the burdens of looking after the house and serving their father." [2]
The best wives are those who are the most humble, honest, and above all loyal. Amina has all these qualities. Besides possessing the best wife qualities, she is a lovely and beloved mother. But despite Amina's incredible resume, she was still kicked out from the house. It will not be long before Ahmad will suffer the consequences of doing this. The mighty Prophet Muhammad could not of spread the word of Islam without his wife Khadija, so what chances does Ahmad have of living a prosperous and happy life without Amina?

1. "Status of Woman in Islam" www.ezsoftech.com/akram/woman.asp
2. Mahfouz, Naguib. Palace Walk. New York: Anchor, 1990

Beautiful Woman

Aisha's beauty in relation to the Muslim culture and traditions is like a lion en closed in a cage, starved, and two feet outside the cage resides a raw steak. For Aisha to be blessed with Angelic assets, to then only have the liberties to show her physical gifts, taken away from her, by this religious-based society is only taming the beast. It is not long before Aisha begins on a fierce quest to get her blue eyes and golden hair some attention, "...greet the day by combing her hair and fixing her attire before doing the house-hold chores, as though Aisha could not bear for her beauty to be left untended for even one hour out of her whole life." (137). She does so after the men (father and brothers) have left the premises: "When the men went off to work, she wanted to be ready to to repair to the parlor and open the shutters of the window overlooking Palace Walk just the least bit. Then she would stand searching the street, while she waited anxiously and fearfully." (137). Aisha was awaiting a male body with wandering eyes, specifically though, eyes that are looking at her.
It is a great irony that Aisha was born under conditions such as: being allowed to only wear full body dresses covering every anatomical part of her beauty fullness, and not allowed to see the light of day.

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

Egyptian Legend?

“She frequently heard their whispers. Time and again she was awakened by their warm breathe. When she was left alone, her only line of defense was reciting the opening prayer of the Qur’an…She began with the first floor and continued with the upper story, reciting the Qur’an suras to ward off demon.” (3). I was not sure if when I read this line, I was convinced that actual demons were inhabiting the house. Spirits is more of a phenomenon that is believable in my eyes, but demons? that is just plain disturbing. It wasn't like I got chills immediately after reading this passage from the novel. It was unexpected; one instance I am reading about the mother's routine prepping of the home and the other second she is reciting suras from the Qura'n to ward off demonds. Mrs. Susan Davis, our AP English teacher, showed us a two minute video of the Walt Disney movie about Moses, and in it entailed Mose's journey through Egypt. The setting of the novel takes place in Egypt. In the short clip, two EEgyptian men mysteriously show their talents, which consist of mystical potions, spells, and the excessive spread of dark smoke. Their eyes encircled with dark make-up, their body movement swaying evil, and their features, sharp. The stereotype of Egyptians, or better said the Western World's view on Egyptians was certainly shown in the Walt Disney movie. And in this novel, certain aspects of that stereotype are also given; the mother warding off demons with Qura'n Suras can be translated as mystical, the reciting of the suras can be interpreted as spells.
Whether it be the Egyptian culture that keeps reoccurring or a connection of a higher power (Spiritual), mysterious wandering is always an attracting tale to a novel rich in history and culture.

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