By Azza Heikal The female characters in Naguib Mahfouz's works raised an endless dispute regarding their sexiest stereotyped presentation. Many critics from the West view Mahfouz's women as the crystallisation of oppression and victimisation. In Western feminism women and men strive to assert their identity and gain their liberty in a world ruled by patriarchal authorities, whether social, political or even religious. On the other hand, Eastern feminism twined political liberation with the social liberation of women. However, women in Mahfouz's works are perpetually portrayed as entrapped in the cage of sexism. The Nobel laureate focuses on the female character in all his novels and depicts them as the symbol of desire and physical abuse. On the contrary, the female characters in Mahfouz could be analysed and discussed from a wider perspective related to nationalism and politics. Egypt is equated with many of Mahfouz's female characters being colonised. In The Cairo Trilogy, Amina, the submissive wife, ends up a rebellious mother after the death of her elderly son Fahmi during the 1919 Revolution. Ihsan, the heroine of The New Cairo, is as beautiful, intelligent and radiant as Egypt, yet as poor, ignorant and helpless as the occupied country. In Miramar, Zahra, the brilliant pretty country girl who moves from the village to serve in the motel in Alexandria, is another version of Egypt in the 1960s. Zahra has been exploited and manipulated by all the male characters that represent the various social classes at that time. The vindictive feudalist, the old aristocrat, the hesitant weak socialist and the crooked handsome politician all disappointed the heroine as they did Egypt. At the end, Zahra marries the only true man who helps her to cross the valley towards knowledge and independence. While some would prefer to view Mahfouz's female characters in the light of a sexist approach, others favour venturing deep inside Mahfouz's portrayal of women. Women in Mahfouz's novels are continuously fighting to get out of the traditional cage that long enslaved them as sex objects. For Mahfouz, woman does not only mean homeland but also life itself. Truly, Mahfouz is the quintessential Egyptian hero longing for human freedom. This week's Soapbox speaker is professor of comparative literature, a writer and a critic.
