Zaat Assignment #5: The Giving Man

Early Years

Every day Aziz dreads the idea of traveling the three plus hours to school from the comfort of his large but humble home in Heliopolis. He believes school is for the weak at heart, which of course, he is not. He sees no point in wasting his time traveling there, then heading straight to the camps in which he devotes his precious hours giving people the gift of his time. Unfortunately for him, his parents value the importance of a well-rounded education and believe that Aziz will succeed as a strong communist man if and only if he finishes his education. That, and only that, is the reason why Aziz travels the three plus hours to get to this dreaded place. Yet despite his parent's wishes, he questions the validity of a strong education after hearing a claim stating that a plumber and a doctor reportedly receive the same salary. As a result, he decides to slack off in his studies since he sees no importance in continuing them.

Studying

At the age of thirteen Aziz is assigned a tutor. Despite his protests and promises to improve his failing grades, his parents hire a boy named Essam to help him with his classes. Although Essam is two years younger, he is considered to be highly knowledgeable in all subjects and only desires 57 pounds, which is a great deal for Aziz's frugal parents. After just a few weeks working with Essam, Aziz’s grades have improved greatly and he has learned the value of receiving a good education.

Attraction

Aziz meets Essam’s older sister, Safiya, as they are leaving school. Although Safiya does not say much, he can tell she, just like many of the other girls, admires his attractive facial features: his chocolate brown eyes inherited from his mother and his strong jawline from his father.  

Safiya

Aziz begins sneaking out of his house in the middle of the night to visit Safiya as their bond grows stronger.

Final Year

Aziz graduates school with the highest of honors and grades, however, he gives up college to help others, just like a good communist man should do.

Marriage

He declares his desire to marry Safiya and moves her to Alexandria with him. She is offered a job in Saudi Arabia as a teacher yet he does not allow her to take the job. She is forced to look for a job closer to Alexandria, with the help of Aziz.

Illiteracy

He discovers the world of adult illiteracy and is compelled to educate the people. He invites Safiya and her companion, Zaat, to accompany him and act as teachers, even though the two have only received a partial education and Zaat suffers from a speech impediment. Zaat leaves immediately after the first session due to her inability to tolerate the incapability of the men to distinguish between masculine and feminine demonstratives.

Children

Safiya and Aziz welcome two children into the world, Adel and Mustafa. Aziz soon spends every Saturday taking the children to camps to learn the satisfaction of helping workers and civilians, while Safiya is distracted with maintaining the well-being of their small, dilapidated flat, which is far from beautiful.

Her garbage is overflowing, forgotten from this week’s chores by the children, which threatens to attract vermin and other unwanted pests; she is consumed by the state of the middle class.

Money

Aziz soon regrets his decision to not continue with his education when the only item in the family’s fridge is a small carton of milk and leftover Koshari from a few nights ago, due to a drop in Aziz’s monthly salary from the camp. The family begins to feel the effects of insufficient schooling.

Following Footsteps

Adel begins to follow in Aziz’s footsteps regarding his schoolwork and begins to skip school. Aziz becomes nervous for his heir’s future, however, he cannot afford to hire a tutor like his parents did for him due to his lack of savings.

The Search

As the man of the family, Aziz concentrates on finding an additional job to finance his son’s education. 

He finds one in the meat-packing industry and begins the following day.

Childhood

Aziz is reminded of his childhood and does not want his son to follow in his footsteps... He receives his paycheck and pays for a tutor.

The Docks

Aziz and his family visit the docks. That day he gives away the saved money for his son’s tutoring and with it his son’s chances to receive a good education.

Death

Aziz lays in the hospital bed, finally accepting the idea that he will never be able to give his children what his parents gave to him: a sufficient education.

Word Count: 778

Zaat Assignment #4

1. After your reading up to 247, please make a connection between the news clippings of chapter 14 and the prose section of chapter 15.

In the news clippings, problems such as radioactive powdered milk, the spreading of foot and mouth by cattle, unsanitary meat, etc. all relate to the prose in chapter 15. This is interesting because normally the news clippings seem almost random and separated from the next prose, but in this case, the two corresponded with one another. On page 225, it mentions how Abdel Maguid was suffering from the side effects of eating too much unsanitary meat, "his breasts had filled out somewhat, and the hair surrounding them had grown thinner", which is mentioned in the news clippings on page 219 when it explains the side effects of feeding the poultry contraceptive pills. Another instance where the two correspond is on page 231 of the prose when Zaat is cleaning the tin and uncovers the old expiration date. This is explained on pages 222 and 223 when it says, "companies sell the [product] in its original packaging if the dates shown are still valid, otherwise they repack the [product] in bags carrying their own name and the date of repackaging". Through both of these quotes it is evident that there is a weak infrastructure in the food systems in Egypt.

2. Then, looking at pages 143 (Chapter 9) through page 247 (chapter 15) give examples of  how Ibrahim incorporates his criticisms of: religion, environment, and the economy--into the story/news clippings.  (does he use satire? characterization? contradictions? setting? metaphor? simile? )

Ibrahim is able to incorporate his criticisms of religion by employing the use of characterization in the prose section of the "machines". He included the scene where the women boycotted Zaat after she befriended Nadia to show the machines as well as the majority of the society's lack of acceptance of other religions, especially Christians. Through this he is able to highlight the Muslim culture's dislike for other religions and influence the reader to think the same way as he does. He indirectly shares his opinion of the environment and economy through contradictions especially in the news clippings. Earlier in the book he includes the correspondence between government officials who argue whether or not they have signed a deal, which shows his views on the government because the reader can decipher that he feels like the government lacks in communication. There are also contradicting statements over the environment and whether or not the cities are sanitary. 

3.  Can you find another example of "Absurdist Literature" at work? OR you can find an example of Satire -even if you used this in your previous answer.

An example of satire in the book is when Zaat witnesses a live birth when with Samiha in the city on page 153. This passage is satirical because it says, "the woman finished her food and stood up and two small rats leapt out from underneath her", and normally when people think of a birth they consider it to be a clean experience because they don't want to jeopardize the baby's health, but in this instance the women has her baby around rats who are considered dirty and disgusting. 

4. Finally, think of any character in the book thus far.  Imagine what their teenage life was like; make up a two line story....

Zaat sits alone in her room, imagining a future in which she could have the freedom to work and create a living for herself. Unfortunately this is not how society works, and she wonders how she'll ever find a husband who'll accept her and her forbidden dreams. 

Zaat Assignment #3

Word:

Futile (adjective) : incapable of producing any useful result; pointless

    Example: Her attempt to save the cat was quite futile. 

Question: What is the significance of Zaat's night terror on pages 113-114? Why do you think Ibrahim decided to include Abdel Maguid with another woman?

Zaat Assignment #2

1. In what ways does the concept of appearances seem to be showing up in the novel?

    The concept of appearances seems to show up a lot in the newspaper clippings especially when Mubarak talks about the help Egypt is receiving from the United States. We, as the reader, have not yet seen the involvement of the U.S. in the book yet so it is interesting to see how Mubarak is using them to seem in control of certain situations. He includes statistics such as, "most American companies that have invested in Egypt have made huge profits." (Ibrahim, 65), to seem as though his leadership has had a great influence on Egypt's involvement in foreign politics. However, Mubarak seems to take himself out of control of situations when he gives Field Marshal Abou Ghazala control of the hijacked plane in Malta, which is intriguing because from what we can see in the majority of the newspaper clippings he likes to be in control of every situation. 

2. What trends do you see in the newspaper clippings in the section? Give one example of this trend. Are there similar trends in the earlier news sections?

   The first part of the newspaper clippings from chapter 4 all include facts about foreign intervention in Egypt. Articles from the New York Times and the Herald Tribune express how Egypt is becoming more and more dependent on other countries for support regarding military aid and resources like food. (Ibrahim, 64). Another trend seen in the newspaper articles is how other countries are utilizing Egypt's cheap labor to their advantage; as said by Mubarak, "[Egypt has] the biggest market in the Middle East and Egyptian labor is cheap." (Ibrahim, 65). This shows that Egypt's relationship with foreign countries contains almost a give and take system: Egypt will ask for aid regarding their military or resources while the other countries utilize the easily accessible labor that Egyptians offer to complete their work cheaply and quickly. There are similar trends in chapter 6 with the idea that the government does not know what they are doing. In chapter 6 the main focus is the environment and trying to fix the problems they are having such as implementing fish farms and petroleum companies; however, they are not receiving the results they want to receive. This idea is present in chapter 4 when the government is debating over whether or not a document was signed and also when Mubarak states that the country has signed a deal and is in a good economic state, yet another government official argues the opposite by rattling off the country's debt. 

3. Make one connection between the prose section and the newspaper section using the concept of communication.

   In both the prose and newspaper section, the idea of miscommunication is prevalent in different contexts. During the prose section, Abdel Maguid and El Shanqeety demonstrate the lack of communication between husbands and wives when they stay up late and watch their videos while pretending to be sleeping the whole night. They keep the secret to themselves and do not admit to their wives what they are watching and then they expect their wives to be cordial and respectful Egyptian women and mothers while they are not being respectful husbands. Another form of miscommunication is when Abdel Maguid and El Shanqeety are making jokes, however Shanqeety does not understand that Abdel Maguid is joking at that moment and instead poses his own joke to cover the miscommunication up. In the newspaper clipping during chapter 4 the Egyptian Industry Minister claims that Egypt has not signed a contract with General Motors, while the Secretary General of the National Democratic Party claims that they have in fact signed the contract. This creates the idea of an unstable government and one that cannot function as a whole. 

4. How are men portrayed in this novel? Give 2 specific examples of things they do. What might Ibrahim’s authorial purpose be? What does he want to show readers?

    Men are portrayed in many different lights in the novel: providers, power hungry and lustful. Mubarak can be described as power hungry because he wants Egypt to have ties with economically stable countries to increase the power of Egypt as well as the Egyptian influence on the stronger and more powerful countries. Like I mentioned before, he considers himself one of the reasons why the countries are having so much success when investing in Egypt. He specifically says, "most American companies that have invested in Egypt have made huge profits." (Ibrahim, 65), which shows the reader that he thinks highly of the Egyptian government. Men are considered lustful in the novel because they constantly look to please themselves and will go to any measure to get the fulfillment they desire. In chapter 5, after Abdel Maguid watches the videos with El Shanqeety, he expects Zaat to want to have sex with him and forces her to wake up just to do that, which she of course obliges to. Finally, men can also be portrayed as the provider of the family because early in the book when Abdel Maguid and Zaat first got married he did not want Zaat to have to work because he wanted to be the "traditional" Egyptian husband and allow for Zaat to stay home to tend to the household. 

5. Who are the “machines” and why do they boycott Zaat?

   The "machines" are the women who Zaat work with in her new department. They boycotted Zaat simply because of their lack of patience for her way of transmitting her material, which made Zaat feel as though her opportunities at the office and her opportunities in socializing with the women were diminishing. They felt that she was incapable of keeping up with the subjects they talked about so they decided to stop inviting her to tea and stopped asking about her opinion on work related questions. Zaat felt as though their reason for boycotting was illogical since she shared the same religion as they did and was not Christian like Nadia who had recently joined the women. This made Zaat feel rejected and decreased her self esteem. 

Zaat Assignment #1

1. "There were other traumatic initiations, some of which illustrated a particularly unique modification of the prevailing custom, such as when they held her down [. . .] and tore out that little protuberance  that has so disturbed the Egyptians since ancient times" (2).

In my opinion, this scene was placed in the book to shock the readers with the truth of the Egyptian culture and to stir opinions as well as emotions. As an American, I am not used to this kind of treatment of women because it is not woven into our culture, like it is for the Egyptians. Upon first reading this I was confused as to what was happening to the girl which forced me to read it again to fully understand and once I understood I immediately felt bad for the girl and all the women who had to go through this "custom". I think Ibrahim included the scene so early in the book to force the reader to understand that this is normal in the Egyptian culture and something like this should not be considered "normal" and instead these traditions that were practiced thousands of years ago should be forgotten and not practiced anymore. This quote sets the scene for the rest of the book because it is clear from looking at the language used in this quote that Ibrahim is opposed to the practices that go on in Egypt and one can assume that the rest of the book will be filled with more quotes similar to this. 

2. Consider the concept of insider versus outsider. 

An example of the idea of insider versus outsider is when Zaat is first beginning her work once she is transferred to the new building and the women are talking to one another, excluding Zaat from their conversation. This is explained as, "[the women's] voices were loud and powerful, dripping with health and vitality. They did not recognize periods of silence or rest. They were tied by unseen threads of familiarity and animosity which excluded strangers like Zaat, who suddenly felt the urge to burst into tears." (Pg. 18). In this case, Zaat would be characterized as the outsider while the women talking are the insiders who refuse to acknowledge Zaat's presence. This event led Zaat to feel unworthy and unappreciated both in the workplace and at home when she later described, "the [urge to burst into tears] finally overcame her the moment she reached home, again as she prepared the food, when her young daughter Doaa didn't do the washing up, when Abdel Maguid asked her for a cup of coffee[...]" (Pg. 18). Her feelings at work are now spreading into her home life which begin to shape her personality from confident to timid.

3. The words "transmission" and "machines" appear throughout the first 41 pages. What do these words mean in the context of this story? 

In the context of the story the words "transmission" and "machines" often relate to people to describe their personal character traits. In chapter one, Zaat describes the women who work with her as, "these machines, though busy chewing beans and pickles, then slurping tea, were so proficient that they didn't stop transmitting for a single moment." (Pg. 17). Zaat describes the women as machines to show their resilient traits when working: they manage to continue talking to one another while continuing to do other things. The words contrast the time in Egypt because the country was not completely industrialized yet Ibrahim describes many things as machines or transmissions.