Childhood...

Why is Kamal so different from all the men in this society? Does the fact that he is ten years old make a difference. Kamal is looking for attention constantly from his brothers, especially his mother. He is the only one who seems to have a deeper respect for women. Women in this society are either used as maids such as in the case of Amina and her husband Amad or as sexual objects from which men gain pleasure. If they are house wifes as Amina,  they can't leave the house for any reason unless accompanied by their husbands, they learn about the outside world only from what by mouth of their husband, and are basically ignorant of everything except for the teachings of the Koran and what they need at home. Kamal seems to be very different from all his male brothers, he enjoys the company of his mother and two older sisters. Mahfouz describes Kamal's reason for wanting to teach his mother about what he learned at school, " The truth was that he loved the women's company with all his heart and did not want to be separated from them even when working. Seeing them gave him a pleasure nothing else could equal. He loved his mother more than anything in the world (Mahfouz 65)." Kamal spent his time trying to teach his mother  many things he found interesting and in doing that I feel that he is being inclusive with his mother. Kamal seems to think that maybe his mother shouldn't be any different from him or even men. Men are the one's who get educated in this society and Kamal makes a difference. I attribute this difference to his age and experience because he can't have so much respect and admiration for a man like his father who treats him as if he doesn't deserve respect. Mahfouz placed this paragraph to show us probably how men in this society grow out of their admiration and respect for women. Is Kamal going to change later in the story? 

P. 65, top paragraph 

What Not to Judge

In Palace Walk, the author, Naguib Mahfouz, introduces Egyptian culture to us, the readers, through very descriptive passages, like this one, in the story of a young girl named, Amina. Through the description of her life as a young married woman, we are exposed to the way women were seen in Egypt at that time. Like many primarily Muslim countries, women are seen as having to be submissive and inferior to men. We clearly see examples of this in the relationship of Amina and her husband, Ahmad Abd al-Jawad.

"She returned to the room, closed the door, and pulled a pallet out from under
the bed. She placed it in front of the sofa and sat cross-legged on it. In good
conscience she did not think she had any right to sit beside him. Time passed
without her speaking. She waited until he invited her to speak; then she would"
(9).

Young Amina, having been raised in a culture where women have always been seen as inferior to men, has been serving her husband for a quarter of a century. She has taken good care of her household, her husband, her stepson, Yasin, and her children since the age of 14. As westerners, we might see many objections to this. For example, "why should a young girl be given so much responsibility at such an early age?" or, "why not allow a young person, just because she's a female, choose who she is to marry and how she is to live out her youth?". Although very valid questions, as readers belonging to the western world, we must force ourselves to understand the way of life that women in Egypt had been taught to live.

While reading this, we, as westerners, may find it ridiculous that a woman has to behave in this way, but to people that share the same beliefs find it completely normal. In his book, Mahfouz described how Amina was terrified of being alone when she first married Mr. Ahmad. She was terrified of demons that might have been in her home while she was alone at night and sought a bit of comfort by going from room to room with her maid and attempt to ward off demons. But, he later tells that she gets accustomed to her new life with the help of her husband’s words.
Mahfouz, as Amina's memory of Mr. Amad's words, writes, "'I'm a man. I'm the one who commands and forbids. I will not accept any criticism of my behavior. All I ask of you is to obey me. Don't force me to discipline you" (4). These words were the words that taught Amina to adapt to her new life. For the next quarter of a century, Amina learned to love her new life. Through his writing, Mahfouz tells us that “she even profoundly loved this hour of waiting up…” (5). By saying this, Mahfouz lets the readers know that although a woman’s life in Egypt may seem wrong to some people, it’s completely normal to others and that some women even loved their way of life.

Although the life of a woman may seem slave-like to people like us who were raised with western mindsets, Mahfouz shows us that the way women in Egypt lived was something completely normal to them and something they even grew to love. It isn’t right for people to judge the lifestyles of others because it’s not our place to do so. We need to respect the lifestyles of others and not judge them simply because we grew up accustomed to a different way of life.

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