Midaq Alley

Midaq Alley is a novel that takes place in Cario, during world War II, in the 1940's, a time where the citizens were struggling with modernization as well as westernization by the British. This novel revolves around the stories of the Alley's characters, yet it primarily focuses on two mains ones, which are Hamida and Abbas. The Arab and Islamic culture and tradition are represented in an unusual setting in the novel that is actually different in real life, such as the role of the women and how in control they are, along with how the people of the Alley as a whole are ignorant about their own religion. Also, it is obvious that this Alley is extremely corrupted, from its eldest members to the youngest. Midaq Alley is a corrupted place and in reality it does not only represent Cairo alone, however, it also stands for the Middle East as a whole.

Along the novel we come to meet Mr. Kirsha's family that consists of his wife Mrs. Kirsha and his son Hussain. Mr. Kirsha is well known in the Alley by his cafe where all the men of the Alley come to meet daily and get to know each others news, he is also known for his many scandals, like his illegal use of hasheesh and his homosexuality interactions with young men. Mrs. Kirsha plays the role of a strong and patient women that stands up for herself. When she learns about her husbands homosexuality, she gets enraged and confronts him in front of everyone in the alley and even screams at him and says “Men like you really deserve to be punished. You have brought disgrace on us again! Now we will have another nice scandal!”(Mahfouz, 78) , which is very unusual in the Arab world for a women to humiliate her husband. Mr. Kirsha's frequent scandals leads Hussain into despising his family along with the Alley and wanting to disappear from it.

Hussain is selfish person that only cares for his needs, he dislikes the Alley, the place he had been raised in, and joins the British army to flee from the Alley as well as to...