The Day the Leader was Killed
Naguib Mahfouz was born in Cairo, Egypt. He graduated from University of Cairo in 1935, majoring in philosophy. Over the span of his life, he has written more than 30 novels and at least 14 collections of short stories (Naguib 1). After his academic pursuits, he had served the government and several other ministries; he spent his spare time writing. Although he retired from that job in 1971, he still pursued his writing career. In 1988, Naguib Mafouz was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (Naguib 1).This fiction writer has a variety of books, which represent a wide range of themes. In The Day the Leader was Killed, he shows realism in the situations presented through the minds or perspectives of the different characters. Religious affiliation is clearly shown throughout the novel. This seems to be the only aspect in their "miserable" lives that gives them any hope to live on. In this story, we see Elwan's and Randa's families plagued by the economic situations around them. The Infitah is repeated numerous times throughout the novel to highlight the cause of the characters' conflicts with life and each other; this Infitah was Sadat's open-door economic policy (Egypt 1). Sadat coming in
His entire family including grandfather, mother, father, sister and him are living under one roof. obligations pile up: one must find time for a bath, for condolences, for apologies, and then there's just one hour left for relaxation, during which I'm swamped by your worries and those of the country. Economic liberalization, which brought wealth to the upper and middle classes, brought inflation to the country and increased the poverty of the lower classes. To show this Elwan states, "I have lived in this old house, lost amid towering buildings- an intruder among the rich- since childhood through adolescence and young adulthood"(Mafouz 10). He goes through many dilemmas, which makes life harder to deal with. However, when he does not reach these, he goes into a depressive state and acts unreasonably. Though it may seem that his policies upon Egypt caused hard times, he ultimately wanted peace (Sadat 2). I was in love then, but now I am exhausted, helpless, and burdened with responsibilities. Since it was difficult to make a living by this new policy, respectable housing was even more of a challenge to acquire. He loses not only both but in the end kills a man and ends up missing in all the frustration and confusion. This explains why Elwan acts the way he does; all he wants is to find true love and economic strength. Elwan's first problem is with his financial status. On top of that, Sadat won a Nobel Peace prize for his efforts. In a similarity to the central focus of the theme, Anwar Sadat, coincidently the same name as the firm boss, was killed by a representation of the frustrations of the common people, the extreme Muslims (Egypt 1). In addition, the problems represented by the Infitah are constantly whirling around in Elwan's mind.
Common topics in this essay:
President Anwar,
Elwan Randa,
Abd-al Nasser,
Fawwaz Muhtashimi,
Leader Killed,
Muhtashimi Zayed,
University Cairo,
Anwar Sadat,
Muslims Egypt,
Infitah Elwan,
leader killed,
day leader,
day leader killed,
relationship randa,
anwar al-sadat's,
economic policy,
egypt 1,
elwan fawwaz,
elwan fawwaz muhtashimi,
sadat's open-door economic,
anwar al-sadat,
lower classes,
true love,
anwar al-sadat's rule,
open-door economic policy,
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Acceptance Essays
