English

Abbas , a barber as profession was in love with Hamida. His great wish was to marry with Hamida and eventually she agrees to marry Abbas who she really doesn’t care
for but who might be a ticket out of her mother’s household. Not only is he poor, he is a
yokel in Hamidas eyes. When he initially becomes her suitor, she is disgusted by what
ordinarily constitutes the most important element of any marriage, his undying love.
Always the astute psychologist, Mahfouz observes that in spite of her limited experience
in life, she was aware of the great gulf between this humble young man and her own
greedy ambitions which could ignite her natural aggressiveness and turn it into
uncontrollable savagery and violence. She would be wildly happy if she saw a look of
defiance or self-confidence in anyone’s eyes, but this look of simple humility in Abbas’
eyes left her emotionless.
Abbas departs Midaq Alley to join other local residents as modern-day
equivalents of camp followers of the medieval past, who made livings sharpening swords,
cutting hair or slaking the lust of soldiers. Indeed, while Abbas is off cutting hair for the
colonizers, Hamida becomes a prostitute servicing the needs of the British and American
troops in the waning months of WWII. Eventually when Abbas discovers Hamida in the
company of British troops at a local tavern, he allows all the “ sorrow, disappointment and
despair he had suffered in the past three days to . . . burst forth in a mad frenzy. After he
throws empty beer glasses into her face, the troops beat and stomp him to death.