Half a Day by Naguib Mahfouz, summary for class 11 opt English

 

Half a Day

Naguib Mahfouz

Naguib Mahfouz is an Egyptian writer. He began writing when he was seventeen. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998. He has written more than 30 novels, more than hundred short stories, and more than two hundred article. Most of his writings were based on the culture and Nationality of Egypt. He uses elaborative, figurative and descriptive language. The story ‘Half a Day’ was published in his book 'The false Dawn'. In this storyhe describes going off to school as a young boy, spending the days in a school and leaving as an old man at the end of his life.

In the beginning part of the story, the narrator is presented as a schoolboybut later he is an old man. The narrator is getting ready for his school. He is walking along his father clutching (holding tightly) his hand. His clothes were new: the black shoes, the green school uniform and the red tarboosh (cap). He is delighted because of his new dress. He looks at his mother who is standing at the window and looking at them. They walked along a street lined with gardens; on  both side were extensive fields planted with crops, prickly pears, henna trees, and a few date palms. The boy asks, "Why school?" and promised that he won't do any bad at home to annoy his father. Father laughs and says that he is not going to punish him. School is not punishment. It is the factory that makes useful men out of boys. It makes a mature man like father and brother. They reached to the gate of a school. The boys and girls are going through the gate and father tells him to go in with them. The boy doesn't want to go to school and hold his hand tightly. His father promised that he would be at the gate when the school time is over.

He enters to the school and sees many new faces of boys and girls. He is strange to them. One boy comes and asks him who hasbrought him. The boy answers that his father has brought him. But that boy simply says that his father was died. The narrator doesn't know what to say. The gate is closed and the bell rings. The teacher makesthe line of students. There are three high building surrounding. In each floor there are balcony roofed in wood.

One woman comes and starts: here you can get you mother and father like people, here and there everything is enjoyable and beneficial and religions. She tells them to dry up their tears. First time in his life he haslearnt variety of things, he makes some boy and girl friends. He participates in different kinds of games: swings, the vaulting horse, ball games. Then goes to a music room and chants some song. He starts to learn language and numbers. He sees a globe and knows about the creator of the earth. They eat delicious food, take a little nap, and wake up to go on with friendship and love, play and learn.

In the school the boy doesn't find everything smooth and sweet as he has expected. Sometime they start to fight and quarrel with their friends while the lady sometimes smile or sometimes scold even more frequently would resort to physical punishment.  In addition, the time for changing one's mind is over and gone there is no question of every returning to the paradise of home. At long last, the chime rings to declare the end of the workday, and the schoolchildren race to the entryways to leave the school.

The storyteller bids farewell to his companions. He gets out of the gate expecting his father waiting at the gate. However his father is not waiting for him. In the wake of sticking around for quite a while, the storyteller chooses to walk home without anyone else. After he has taken a few steps, a middle-aged man passes by, and he realizes at once that he knows him. The mancomes toward him, smiling, and shaking his hand asks it is long since they have visited, how he is. The narrator says that he is fine. But the man says that he is not fine these days and goes in his way.

The narrator stands by the road and observes it very closely. He takes few steps and he search the street lined with garden but doesn't find. It has disappeared due to modernization. He doesn't find the fields, which border the road. There are tallbuildings standing beside the road. At various point stand conjurers (magician) showing off their tricks and making snakes appear from his basket. There is an announcement of the opening circus. A line of trucks carryingcentralsecuritytroops, a fire engine sirens, battle between taxi driver and his passenger. The narrator is shocked to the rapidchangeduring 'half a day' between early morning and sunset. He feels the time is very short in his life. During this short period of time there are many changes in his life. He searches his home among the crowd. He has to cross Abu Khoda to reach to his house but the moving vehicles don't give him chance to cross the road.

He is still standing on the road but can't cross the road. Subsequent to standing quite a while, the storyteller is helpedto cross the road by a little boy who works at the ironing shop on the corner of the street. When the boy holds out his hand and addresses him as Grandpa and then the storyteller understands that he has now become old. He realized that a half-day at school was his entire life, which passed quickly.