Fountain And Tomb- Ignorance A
In the novel Fountain and Tomb by Naguib Mahfouz, the reader is thrown into a small alley in Cairo, Egypt in the 1920s. The narrator is an adult reliving his childhood through many random, interesting vignettes of his youth. We learn about many different aspects of Egyptian life from political rebellion, to arranged marriages, to religious devotion, to gang warfare. We are led to conclude that one of the major themes of the book is Truth. We come to question whether Truth is something that always needs to be known. Will the Truth ultimately do more harm than good? Is there ever a time when the Truth must be told? Are there times when it’s better for the Truth to never be known?
Truth is ...
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us. While massaging his naked female neighbor’s body, the narrator is asked if he’s going to tell his mother. No, he answers. “So you even know that certain things are better left unsaid! You really are a devil” (Mahfouz, 13). The neighbor makes the obvious point that sometimes there are things that don’t have to be repeated, for the benefit of all the parties involved. Some might argue that the Truth will always come out, and by hiding it someone will end up being affected by it much more later on. But that is only if the information does get repeated. Knowledge doesn’t always have to be repeated, as was shown by our narrator and his neighbor. If the narrator had told his mother, would any of the parties benefit from this knowledge?
We learn of a case where finding out the truth was a devastating experience for one family. Hag Ali Khalafawy was rich because he had stolen another man’s money. When he was on his death bed he told his son of his thievery and asked that the fortune ...
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argument by saying, “Blessed are the ignorant, for they are happy” (Mahfouz, 115). Gilel also has realized that what people don’t know is sometimes better for them. It makes them feel better, safer, and happier. And we wonder which is more important, knowing the Truth, or knowing enough of the Truth to keep us satisfied with life and happy. In this story we notice that by being ignorant of the wondrous complexity of the world around him, the narrator is more at ease with life than his counterpart, Gilel. If Gilel was to retell this revelation to his community, opening their eyes to the Truth, would it be beneficial to anyone?
In another tale, the boy’s father was having a conversation ...
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"Fountain And Tomb- Ignorance A." Essayworld.com. November 27, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Fountain-And-Tomb-Ignorance-A/18120.
"Fountain And Tomb- Ignorance A." Essayworld.com. November 27, 2004. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Fountain-And-Tomb-Ignorance-A/18120.
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