Midaq Alley as the Woman

The women of the Middle East would continue to uphold their traditional image, charge though in their heart of hearts many of them may be yearning for plain liberty. The chief character of Naguib Mahfouzs Midaq Alley (1992) is a adult female by the name of Hamida, who must put up acts to stay original to her traditions, at the same time as she yearns for something beyond the ordinary. Yet, her passage into a dry land where men and women must be considered equal is a narrow one.As a matter of fact, her life is the Midaq Alley, which resembles a trap, with walls on three sides, making unfairness one of its pervasive features (Deeb). What is more, there is a very narrow entrance and an equally narrow exit to the small alley away from the big, outside being that the Middle Eastern woman has come to represent in Mahfouzs novel (Deeb).Yet, Hamida is not the kind to give up easily. She sneers at her husbands-to-be simply because she wants something divulge than them, most definitel y a life that is more prosperous, and outright superior, that is, the big, outside world. She considers her husbands-to-be as nonentities because she thinks she can achieve well for herself without them. At the same time, she is bounded by Middle Eastern customs and culture to choose one prospect and get married corresponding ordinary girls (Mahfouz).Hamida admires the women who have escaped their marital bonds. She is peculiarly inspired by the factory girls she knows who all happen to be Jewish. She informs her mother about the same, If you had seen the factory girls You should just see those Jewish girls who go to work. They all go about in nice clothes. Well, what is the point of life then if we cant wear what we want? (Mahfouz)According to Middle Eastern customs for women, Hamida must control her true desires before the heathenish expectations that are attached to all women. All the same, Mahfouz brings to the minds eye the picture of Middle Eastern women that are longing t o promiscuous themselves from the bonds of patriarchy, and all the rules of society that are connected to the same. Apparently, the Middle Eastern women would also like to free themselves from the difficult clothing they are forced to wear.Perhaps they would like breaks from such clothing. While women such as Hamida may genuinely face a problem with restrictive customs, Mahfouz also describes the proper girls that are not expect to show their desires anyway. Boys of the Middle East, on the contrary, are allowed various other facilities, also according to the author. Boys are permitted, among other things, access to sex, nightlife, and friendships outside the family (Mahfouz).When Hamida gets married to Abbas, she only does so to escape her mothers home. Escape seems to be her only wish. She turns into a prostitute as soon as her husband leaves home for an indefinite time period of time. But, does she find her eventual escape route through this act? It appears that while many Middl e Eastern women may be searching for escape routes from traditions, once and for all, it was only Hamida who actually managed to escape. Whether she had dreamt of reaching a brothel or not is not the point of Mahfouzs tale.The fact remains that Hamida had no choice to die a liberated life as a Middle Eastern woman, except as a prostitute. Most Middle Eastern women would shun the conceit of prostitution altogether, calling it a major sin. However, Hamida was so desperate to escape that she defied the common image of the Middle Eastern woman to truly escape her cultural constraints, once and for all. Whether she also found happiness is not the concern of the author either. Hamidas liberation, on the other hand, is an important message of Midaq Alley (Mahfouz).Hamida was the kind who barely upheld the traditional image of the Middle Eastern woman, just as many other Middle Eastern women probably do. At the same time, she was desperate becoming to express her suppressed desires of liberation that she chose the career of prostitution so as to escape all associations with the patriarchal traditions. Perhaps, therefore, Mahfouzs writing is a warning for the exceedingly strict movements that reduce people to suppressed desperation, which eventually bursts into crimes and various other problems (Mahfouz).Works CitedDeeb, Marius. Najib Mahfuzs Midaq Alley A Socio-Cultural Analysis. Bulletin (BritishSociety for Middle Eastern Studies), Vol. 10, no 2 (1983), pp. 121-130.Mahfouz, Naguib. Midaq Alley. Reprint edition. New York Anchor, 1992.