Beginning and end

The novel "Beginning and End" is considered one of the realistic novels that include the period from 1935 AD to 1939 AD in the history of Egypt. And Naguib Mahfouz tried to depict the lives of the three classes in Cairo and their struggles by portraying the life of a poor family in this novel. The author depicts the aspirations of the popular, middle, and aristocratic classes and their ambitions collectively to express the disparity between the social classes living in one environment. And this depiction is in fact a critique of Egyptian society. This article focuses on female characters in light of feminist criticism, and the importance of the topic comes from the fact that women have not enjoyed any humane and noble view throughout history and have suffered from society’s injustice towards them. You may be attracted by the name of the novel "Beginning and End," and it leaves you puzzled, asking, beginning what? and end what? And those questions will quickly fade away through the course of events, so you realize that the name of the novel summarizes our story in two words, and places it within a well-crafted framework. Our writer drew through it the events of his story, clarifying that the end of that story is nothing but the inevitable fate of our beginning. The beginning was with death, and the end with death, and between them are a set of details and events that address the characters of the story and their sacrifices, how each of them started? and how they ended? This is what the writer will present to us with precise mastery and a well-woven fabric, having explored the depths of language and its colors, leaving no room for doubt that what he conveys is an exact image of a reality we live. You will find yourself connected to his characters and familiar with them, until you start living with them, for their pain is our pain, their sorrow is our sorrow, we cried as they cried, and we laughed when they laughed. Author: Naguib Mahfouz Number of pages: 424