Naguib Mahfouz: A Western and Eastern Cage of Female Entrapment ...

Alifa Rifaat continued to publish volumes of short stories, some of which have been translated into English. She has also “disclos[ed] the extent to which women are complicit in their own victimization,” as evidenced in a quotation from [her] ‘Bahiya’s Eyes’ [which] encapsulates Rifaat’s commentary on being a woman in a Muslim society: “Daughter, I’m not crying now because I’m fed up or regret that the Lord made me a woman. No, it’s not that. It’s just that I’m sad about my life and my youth that have come and gone without my knowing how to live them really and truly as a woman” (Badran, 72). These writers, rising above cultural oppression, serve as a witness to the strong constitution that characterizes many Middle Eastern women.

Female writers are not alone in their quest to address gender oppression in the Middle East. Male authors have also joined their fight. One writer, Qasim Amin, was an early advocate of women’s rights. Many Middle Eastern and Western authors use his work to illustrate abuse of and prejudice toward women. Sympathetic to women trying to enter professional lives, he encouraged Islamic society to review laws to allow women to enjoy the quality of life preordained for men. Amin influenced the focal author of this research, Naguib Mahfouz. The latter had two major goals in his writing: he wanted to address corruption and the political situation, and he wanted to shine light on the role of Egyptian women as they joined the battle for liberation through various nationalistic endeavors. These goals of Mahfouz penetrate the pages of his novels and contribute to the disparity of understanding between Western and Islamic readings of his works.

When one is not enculturated in such a lifestyle, reading works from the Middle East—as opposed to Western works—can challenge and confuse, as mentioned previously. This ambiguity overflows into many discourses, one of which is feminist theory. A great divide has breached Western and Islamic feminism, but the foundation for both feminisms originates in the oppression of females and the authoritative role of the male in determining the woman’s role in the world. Long before Mahfouz’s time, eighteenth-century Western works began perpetuating myths about the Middle Eastern woman, myths and stereotypes that remain in place today.