The Beginning and the End (novel)

The Beginning and the End is a novel by Naguib Mahfouz, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1988. An Egyptian, Naguib has been credited with modernizing Arabic literature, with his prolific writing style and his themes on existentialism.

The Beginning and the End is a story set in Cairo in the late 1930s. The story deals with the trials and tribulations of a middle class family in the suburbs of Cairo who find themselves struggling to keep out of utter poverty, caused by the death of the father, the only bread earner.The family consists of the mother, Samira, eldest son, Hassan, grown up daughter, Nefisa, and teenage sons Hussein and Hassanein have to battle it out against fate till the teenage sons finish school and get a job. Hassan the eldest son, a vagabond by nature, leaves home and becomes a local goon in the garb of managing a coffee house. His live-in relation with a black danseuse (prostitute) is ignored by the family so long as he is able to meet the demands of his brothers. There is no love lost here, but the family does not approve of his relationship or his work. The daughter of the house, Nefisa, starts of as dressmaker, a hobby she had to take up as a full time occupation, degrading herself in her own eyes. She is never able to get out of her self wallowed ill fate and her faith in men take a beating after her lover, the local grocer’s son, cheats her into sex and then marries another. Nefisa, the adorable but ugly looking daughter of her father, can never get over this incident nor is able to control her sexual urges, turning her into a woman who sleeps with strangers, the money she gets is an added source of income.

Hussein, the elder of the two teenagers, finds himself sacrificing his higher studies and any hope of a bright future so as to make way for the youngest, Hassanein, to complete his education and join the War College, education fees being exorbitant by their present condition. The family gives in to this scheme of things, knowing in their hearts that Hassanein might not turn out to be the savior of the family once he gets a job. Hassanein is typified as the self centered kid, brother, doing no harm to anyone, but sure to watch out for himself. His amorous demands being turned down by his fiancée, he lusts after women, always ready to take offense to his sense of pride and cursing his fate for putting him through the tough times. Hassanein is the typical man who believes that he was born into this world to lead a rich life without any troubles and it’s the duty of each of his family members to put him ahead of their own thoughts.

Your heart goes out to Hussein , who we all know has been sacrificed at the alter of his brother, with no hopes of even having a family of his own. Nefisa, who leads a double life as the strict elder sister and yet the sexually depraved woman. A very bold characterization by Naguib Mahfouz, for the time period that the story is set in.

The story gives the reader hope since we begin with the knowledge that the children are grown-up and not toddlers, so there could be a way out of the poverty as soon as they get a job. But Naguib has managed to weave the paralytic conditions at every milestone in each of the protagonists lives. The description of the house and the building where they stay gives it the right claustrophobic feeling, a feeling from which the reader hopes to escape with each character, again to move into a new and equally claustrophobic setting .

The story moves at a prolific pace and tries to look at the world from each characters view point.