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 into power has negatively affected the country, which is ultimately shown in this story through the trials of Elwan Fawwaz Mutashimi.
             The Day the Leader was Killed takes place in Egypt, near the River Nile, around the time of Anwar al-Sadat's rule. Sadat reversed most of his predecessor's, Gamal Abd-al Nasser, socialist policies. He came into power around 1970 until his assassination on October 6 of 1981 by Muslim extremists who were opposed to his peace initiative with Israel in the war of 1973 (Egypt 2). As a result of his peace treaty, there was intense domestic opposition, especially from the Islamic fundamentalists. Though it may seem that his policies upon Egypt caused hard times, he ult...