We're going to try an blog conversation to complete our engagement with the presentation on Egypt today. The following questions are proposed by the Egypt presenters as possible openings for our discussion of the short story. Please respond to any of them or share your own comments on other elements of the short story that interest you. Return to the blog several times to see what your classmates have said and share additional responses.
1. Give examples of Mahfouz's concern with social and cultural changes associated with urbanization (the heavily populated city of Cairo) and modernization (business activity, Western influences).
2. Compare and contrast the ways the different characters the protagonist meets interpret and believe in Zaabalawi.
3. Who is Zaabalawi? Is the figure of Zaabalawi an allegory? If so, what does it represent?
4. Is the story dealing with a literal or a metaphorical illness? What does it stand for?
5. How does this story criticize traditional religion and beliefs? Examples of Islam, Christianity, Mysticism? What message is Mahfouz trying to get across concerning religion?
6. Interpret the elements of spirituality and humanism? Is the story universal?
7. What is significant about the bar scene and the protagonist getting drunk? How are the narrator's visions and experiences during the dream connected to human social life and its possibilities?
8. Comment on the end of the story. What does it leave the reader thinking?
2. Compare and contrast the ways the different characters the protagonist meets interpret and believe in Zaabalawi.
3. Who is Zaabalawi? Is the figure of Zaabalawi an allegory? If so, what does it represent?
4. Is the story dealing with a literal or a metaphorical illness? What does it stand for?
5. How does this story criticize traditional religion and beliefs? Examples of Islam, Christianity, Mysticism? What message is Mahfouz trying to get across concerning religion?
6. Interpret the elements of spirituality and humanism? Is the story universal?
7. What is significant about the bar scene and the protagonist getting drunk? How are the narrator's visions and experiences during the dream connected to human social life and its possibilities?
8. Comment on the end of the story. What does it leave the reader thinking?
Recent Comments