“Man is named only to be forgotten and there’s never a heart that doesn’t change”(Mahfouz 284). The ending of Midaq Alley by Naguib Mahfouz is successful in concluding the novel by using tone and irony in the ending of relationships. Throughout the novel there is a negative tone that is emphasis in the end of the novel through the actions that take place. The actions that take place at the end of the novel also are ironic, such as the death of Abbas and Hamida’s situation. Mahfouz ends the end of the novel through actions with negative tone and irony with characters and their negative relationships.
The end of the novel successfully connects with the rest of the novel and keeps the negative tone while using irony to end the relationship between Abbas and Hamida. The end of the novel is successful on the grounds that the end is tied to the rest of the novel and concludes the relationship between Abbas and Hamida. Throughout the novel there is a negative tone and there is only one way to end the novel and that is with a negative tone. The death of Abbas is part of the negative tone and there is a lot of irony as well.
Part of the irony is that Abbas is killed by the British and he went to work for the british in order to make enough money to marry Hamida. Hussain told him,”… Work for the British Army. It’s a gold mine that will never be exhausted.. “(36). This is what got Abbas the idea to go work for the British so he can marry Hamida. This shows that Abbas is willing to do anything for Hamida and how much he truly wants to marry her. This is irony too, because Abbas is killed by the British Army after he had worked for the army. The negative tone that follows Abbas and Hamida’s relationship come to a whole at the end of the novel with Abbas’ death.
Abbas and Hamidas one-sided relationship play a major role in the negative tone in the whole novel. Abbas is in love with Hamida, but Hamida just leads him on and plays a factor in Abbas’ death. In the beginning of the novel Abbas talks about his love for Hamida and one quote is,”Abbas now marveled at the strength of love, its power and its strange magic. He thought it right that God had created mankind capable of love and then left the task of developing life to the fertility of love”(37). At this point in the novel he thinks Hamida loves him back, but at the end Abbas elieves Hamida has feelings for him even though she does not.
When he finds her with the British Army me he loses it. When Abbas sees Hamida with the British Soldiers, “His anger foamed within him and blinded his vision. “(280). This is a situation where Abbas believing that him and Hamida are an item get the best of him and he becomes so angry that he needs to fight the British Soldiers. The end result goes along with the negative tone that has been presented throughout the novel. The role irony plays in the end of the novel between Abbas and Hamida ontributes to the negative tone that is present throughout the novel.
Sheikh Darwish says this about Abbas’ death,”Let him who dies of love die sad; there’s no good in any love without death”(286). This is an ironic quote about what happened to Abbas because he died fighting for his love, Hamida. The news is broken that Abbas died by Hussain when he says,” Abbas has been killed! The british murdered him. “(283). This incident has the biggest irony because he once worked for the British Army and ends up being killed by them. The other piece of irony is hat something negative happens to everyone who leaves the alley.
For example, Abbas dies and he left to go work for the British. Hamida leaves for the pimp, but ends up getting rejected and tries to use Abbas to get revenge but that ends up backfiring and she gets a beer glass thrown in her face causing her to go get treatment. The entire end is a combination of all the negative actions that have happened throughout the book such as Hamida and the pimp beating each other. Where Abbas and Hamida end up play a major role in the success of the end of the novel and show’s Mahfouz’s views of individualists in the ovel.
The only way the novel could have ended is this way because the novel is social realism. When the narrator talks about Hussain not being able to help Abbas gives us an image of the situation and Abbas. “His friend, however, who had never before in his life drawn back from a fight, remained glued to the ground, not knowing how he could cut his way to Abbas through all the angry soldier. “(281) This shows how Mahfouz felt Abbas must die and how it played into the ending of the novel.
It adds to the the fact that it seemed that every character who wanted o leave or not be a part of the alley had a negative action happen to them and adds to the connection the end has with the rest of the novel. The combination of irony and tone gives us a good image of what times were like in the alley during this time. The whole town had a negative tone to it at the end of the novel do to Zaita and Dr. Booshy being arrested, Hamida running away with the pimp and Radwan Hussainy leaving for his religious journey. The irony in Abbas death also adds to the negative tone that goes through the town especially for his friends and family.
Sheikh Darwish has an ironic quote at the end of the novel talking about Abbas death and he says,”I will be patient so long as I live, for not all things have their end? Oh yes, everything comes to its nihaya”(286). Darwish is talking about everything in life has to come to an end and saying that Abbas will have ended up dying anyway. The combination of these two stylistic devices add to the end of the novel and keep the negative tone of the novel throughout the story. The end of the novel is successful because it connects with the rest of the novel and is tied in through the negative tone and irony.
Mahfouz uses Abbas and Hamida’s relationship in the end to show this through the irony in Abbas death and the negative tone the death leaves for the end of the novel. The negative is emphasised to show what happened to the individuals who tried to leave the alley. The irony in the death of Abbas at the end of the novel is that he is killed by the British Army. By using the negative tone and irony Mahfouz connects the end of the novel to the rest of the novel. This is why the end of the novel is successful and on the grounds that the end of the novel connected with the rest of the novel.
