Reading Response #4

Due Friday, February 21, 2003

Instructions

Choose one question and construct a 3-page essay based on that question. You do not need to answer every one of the questions under each number. Rather, use the questions to springboard your own thinking to create an argument about the novel and the specific passages or ideas.

Remember: an argument should be arguable, meaning that people should disagree with you. In an essay this small, you should state a very clear thesis near the beginning of your essay. Then you should back up your thesis with evidence from the text. Do not merely quote from the text but explain what the passages say and mean.

You do not need to include the question in your essay. Your thesis and evidence should be enough for me to know what question you are dealing with. Begin with your own introduction that leads into your thesis.

Questions

1. Examine Hussain’s return to the alley. What is his return like and what does it say about the changes occurring in the Alley?

2. Examine the people’s relationship with World War II. How do they feel about it, and what do their feelings, responses to it say about Egypt’s relationship with Europe?

3. What is the connection between pages 268 and 269 (end of Chapter 32 and beginning of Chapter 33)? Is it important that Chapter 33 comes at the end of the book? Why? How does this chapter comment on the rest of the novel?

4. Why is it important that Sheikh Darwish has the last words of the novel? What is his place in the novel, and what do his last words mean?