Palace Walk

In al-Sayyid Ahmad’s family, the novel explores the drastic measures that the patriarch, al-Sayyid Ahmad, takes to enforce his dominion over the lives of everyone in his household. According to al-Sayyid Ahmad’s rules, women are not even allowed to leave the house, and this restriction is unique even in the local community, as many other women in the novel are permitted to leave their houses as and when they please. Although the novel is designed to highlight the many misogynistic tendencies of Egyptian society during this time frame, it soon becomes clear that al-Sayyid Ahmad’s demands exceed even the most common forms of patriarchal authority in the area. Because everything in his house must proceed according to his rules, he creates a fear-based atmosphere of stern discipline, and the entire family dreads the prospect of his wrath if they disobey. At the same time, however, al-Sayyid Ahmad sees no need to adhere to his own rules, and thus, the strict austerity that he shows to his family is no more than a hollow mask with which he strives to conceal his love of parties, alcohol, and extramarital affairs. As he sings and dances with his friends each night and habitually comes home intoxicated, al-Sayyid Ahmad’s authority over his family is hypocritical at best.

In the society depicted in the novel, the construct of marriage becomes an overt tool with which men exert authority over their families and reinforce toxic ideals of male power. The men depicted in the novel wield power over the women in their lives due to the patriarchal nature of the society. For this reason, Yasin feels no guilt about committing sexual assault, and al-Sayyid Ahmad feels no need to correct his son for attempting to rape the family servant, beyond chastising him for a lack of discipline. Even more telling is the fact that this chastisement takes the form of an arranged marriage, and al-Sayyid Ahmad’s action does nothing to quell his son’s behavior. Even after Yasin is married to Zaynab, he causes yet another scandal by having sex with Zaynab’s maid, Nur, and this rash action dooms him to an early divorce when Zaynab prevails upon her father to intervene. Although in this case, Yasin does suffer consequences for his actions, it is significant that Zaynab’s only recourse is to ask another man to speak on her behalf.

Just as al-Sayyid Ahmad uses the imposition of marriage and of divorce to curb his son’s behavior and maintain his own authority, he also takes full control of the lives of his daughters and arranges their marriages to further his own social connections. Both daughters are married off to the sons of his deceased friends as a means of reaffirming his social bonds with the local elites. In this way, al-Sayyid Ahmad uses marriage to exert his authority and further his own interests. In his mind, there is no connection between marriage and emotion; instead, he uses marriage as a social tool discipline and punish his family and to advance his own agenda.

Because he marries off his daughters, however, the group of people who remain under his direct influence grows considerably smaller, and al-Sayyid Ahmad struggles with his perceived loss of authority as his daughters enjoy a new level of freedom and autonomy in their husbands’ more permissive households. Al-Sayyid Ahmad therefore grows critical of their husbands, who allow the women to leave the house and be visited by male doctors. These things, al-Sayyid Ahmad believes, undermine his own authority, even though they occur in another house. Similarly, al-Sayyid Ahmad is critical of Yasin’s repeated scandals because they reflect badly on al-Sayyid Ahmad’s aura of authority, and al-Sayyid Ahmad is also angered by Fahmy’s political involvement because Fahmy openly defies his father in order to pursue his own ideals. The reaction of al-Sayyid Ahmad to these perceived attacks on his authority demonstrates his belief that maintaining his control over his family is more important than building constructive relationships with them.