Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Zaabalawi #3

Discuss the importance of the lawyer that the narrator first visits in his search for Zaabalawi (804-805). What might he indicate about Zaabalawi?
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. GwenNovember 18, 2009 at 4:43 PM

    Before the narrator even enters the lawyer's office, he sees a beautiful women that smelled intoxicating leaving his office. Everything in the office was fancy, including Sheikh Qamar himself. He spoke to the narrator condescendingly after realizing that he only came to talk about Zaabalawi. The lawyer also referred to him as "a man of miracles" (804).This shows that Zaabalawi was probably the one that caused the lawyer to live so luxuriously. This was a bigger push for the narrator to find Zaabalawi as soon as possible.

    ReplyDelete
  2. raisinsklNovember 19, 2009 at 12:40 AM

    I agreed what Gwen said, the narrator takes the comments literally and hastily to continue his search. “…my head so buzzing with embarrassment that I was oblivious to all sounds around me, I went to the Birgawi Residence…” (pg 805). This sentence indicates that the narrator is conscious of the day that meeting with Zaabalawi arrived soon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Qi LiNovember 20, 2009 at 1:54 AM

    Obviously, the reaction of Qamar is different from the others which the narrator has interview.
    1."The languor become firmly entrenched in his eyes, and it would have come as no surprise if he had shown the door to both me and my father's menory."(P804)
    The name Zaabalawi do shock Sheikh Qamar a lot.It means his memory about Zaabalawi is indelible. However, he told the narrator "That was a very long time ago and I scarcely recall him now" If he really almost forget Zaabalawi, the emotion showing in his eyes won't change like that. It means that Sheikh Qamar has something he don't want to tell the narrator.
    The narrator can even feel that from his tone."he said in the tone of one who has made up his mind to terminate the conversation"(P804)
    2.When the narrator asks him"Was he really a saint?" Sheikh Qamar answers"We used to regard him as a man of miracles" He avoids to indicate Zaabalawi is or is not a saint. He uses "Used to". Is that means now is different? He uses "regard" He doesn't use "is"or"was".When I read this answers, a question came in to my mind. Is there anything happen that changed Qamar's regard to Zaabalawi?
    The narrator's interview with Sheikh made him have more question about Zaabalawi.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)