Compare and Contrast

Tammy Starkey

Essay # 4

Zaabalawi

The story Zaabalawi is a tale about a man in search for healing. The man has a sickness that nobody can cure. He had already tried everything, yet nothing has worked. He begins to remember a time in his childhood with his father. His father was singing praises about a man name Zaabalawi. According to his father, Zaabalawi had the power to heal the sick. Finding hope in this memory, the man decides to go look for Zaabalawi. As the story continues, the sick man approaches several people in his quest of finding Zaabalawi. The first person he went to was a lawyer, his father’s best friend. He also spoke to a book seller, calligrapher, a musician, and a government officer. It seemed almost impossible to find him. It was as if he had vanished off the face of earth.

As a little boy, his father held Zaabalawi in such high honors. His father had once said that if it wasn’t from him, he would’ve died miserably (The Norton Anthology). He also credited Zaabalawi as being a true saint of God. The man’s heart was set on finding this great man. He felt that if he could find him, perhaps he had a chance of being healed. In all reality, everything else had failed him.

The man goes to his father’s friend who was a lawyer. He asked if he knew how he could find Zaabalawi’s? The mentioning of his name changed the lawyer’s demeanor. The lawyer told him the address that he had and sent him on his way. As the story continues to unfold, the man speaks with several people that had encounters with Zaabalawi. They included a book seller, a composer and calligrapher, a musician, and a government officer. Each of these people spoke of his power to heal but they hadn’t seen him for some time now.

Eventually the sick man started to feel discourage. He searched all over, but still there was no Zaabalawi. As time went on, so did the pain in his body. It was getting to the point that he didn’t think he would be able to hold on much longer. The reason...