Midaq+Alley+Exam


 * // Midaq Alley //****, Naguib Mafhouz (1947) **

Midaq Alley is set in Egypt during the early 1900s while the British occupied Egypt. Egypt was becoming modernized and influenced by the West. || ** -Very Descriptive in how alley in portrayed. ** || ** -The narritives point of view is impersonal and distant from the characters. ** ** -Not really showing any emotions or compassion. ** ** -Third person Narrated. ** ||
 * ** Cultural Context/Genre **
 * ** Plot Summary in a Nutshell – include conflict development and resolution ** ||
 * ** Structural features of the text **
 * ** Narrative Perspective/Point of View **


 * ** Imagery ** ||
 * ** Symbolism ** ||

** Motifs ** // List significant objects, concepts, ideas, issues, statements that recur in the text. //

Motif Significance (quote from text, where relevant)

pg 27:Hamida- “What’s the point og living if one cannot have new clothes [...] Well, what is the point of life then if we can’t wear what we want?” pg66: Salim Alwan- “This suggestion displeased him, for his business instincts were opposed to spending or giving money away” Hussain Kirsha joining army because of jealousy of the money Abbas was making. Umm Hamida wanting Hamida to marry Salim Alwan so that she can have financial support. Salim Alwan not wanting to marry Hamida because she has a lower social status than he. ||
 * Wealth and Success || pg 21:Mrs.Afify- “I am, and thanks be to God, a very fortunate woman.”
 * Examples:Hamida becoming a prostitute for the money and luxuries. **
 * Modernization ||  ||

** Main Characters **

Name/Role Motivation/Tension/Development Identifying Quote(s)


 * Hamida || Hamida is the daughter of Umm Hamida and very self-centered. She eventually gets engaged to Abbas because she thinks that he is the only semi suitable man for her and also for his promise to go into the army and bring back more money for her. She then gets proposed to by Salim Alwan who has more money so she breaks off the engagement with Abbas who doesn’t know about it until he come back to the alley on vacation. After Alwan becomes ill Hamida finds Ibrahim who seduces her then turns out to be a pimp who wanted Hamida for her “assets” and she takes the job because she is enticed by the money but even more so by the challenge of figuring Ibrahim out because he perplexes her.  ||   ||
 * Abbas || Abbas is the barber of the alley. He gets annoyed that he is going nowhere in life so he proposes to Hamida and joins the army to make something of himself. He comes back after a time to find out that Hamida disappeared and he finds out later that she became a prostitute and harbored no emotion towards him which angered him and caused him to want to exact revenge on her pimp, Ibrahim. Hamida leads hikm to a bar where she works and Ibrahim would be, but after seeing Hamida flirting with the soldiers, he snapped and attacked Hamida, giving her a gash on her face but was soon beaten to death while his friend Hussein Kirsha just sat there and watched.  ||   ||
 * Kirsha || Kirsha is the café owner, father of Hussein Kirsha and Mrs.Kirsha’s husband. He has a indiscreet relationship with a boy that is known by the entire alley. After a while his wife can’t take it confronts his son, Hussein Kirsha, to try and do something about it but to no avail and soon confront him in his café in front of a crowd and makes no headway in the matter except that she makes Kirsha infuriated and he becomes grounded in his freedom to do anything he wants especially when it comes to his relationship with the boy. Afterwards he is confronted by Radwan Husseiny who also fails to dissuade him from his actions.  ||   ||
 * Umm Hamida || Umm Hamida is the mother of Hamida and at the beginning she doesn’t do anything butas the story progresses she becomes more involved. She is the one who handle the arrangements for Hamida engagement to Abbas. When Salim Alwan wants to be engaged to Hamida, he goes through Umm hamida who sees the benefit for her in this and so she tells Hamida which causes her to call off her engagement. She also helps her landlady, Mrs.Afify, to find a husband because hers died long ago and she is ready to move on.  ||   ||
 * Salim Alwan || Alwan is a business owner who is extremely wealthy. At the beginning of the story he is talking with his 3 sons about what he should do with his company because he’s debating whether to retire or not. He then finds his life dull and uneventful so he decides that marrying again will solve that so he proposes to Hamida because he also thinks that his current wife is too old to do anything. He then suffers a heart attack and becomes sick for a while and when he comes back he is changed. Now he has become self-centered And thinks that everyone is against him and are out for his money.  ||   ||

** Minor Characters **

Name/Role Significant Relationship to Main Character(s) Identifying Quote (if relevant)


 * Hussein Kirsha || son of Kirsha, Friend ||  ||
 * Uncle Kamil || best friend of Abbas ||  ||
 * Zaita || one of the people who stole the teeth from a corpse for unknowing. ||  ||


 * ** Types of relationships ** ||

** Themes ** // __In the form of questions or statements__, formal unities (paradox, tension, ambiguity, irony), and/or dichotomies (i.e. this vs. that), identify some of the main themes of the text. //

Theme How manifested in plot/characterization (quote from text, where relevant)
 * Modernization and the Influence of the West || Egypt, the alley, and the characters in the novel are impacted by the West and the presence of the British, and the new technology that comes with them. Examples of this include the poet being replaced by a radio, Hamida being influenced by the Jewish girls from the factory, and Hussain Kirsha's desire to be in the British Army and adopt that type of lifestyle. ||
 * Fate vs. Free Will || There is a constant tension between whether life is decided by fate or by free will. Some of the characters rely on fate and believe "God's will" is what causes certain things to occur. ||
 * The Role of Money and Its Effects on Characters || Money is an important factor in the lives of the alley's residents. It serves as a motivator to many of the characters like Hamida and Hussain Kirsha. It also causes many conflicts and creates problems between the alley's residents. ||
 * The Position of Women in Society || The position of women in Egyptian society is highlighted through the text. The conflict in between Hamida and the rest of the alley women highlights women's role. Hamida is different than what is expected of a woman - she does not want a domestic life where she has to tend to the house and raise children, duties that were all expected of Egyptian women at the time. ||