The sons accept God’s inevitable
Chapters 29-32 Chapters 29-32 Summary Alwan sells his entire tea stock at a profit when he can no longer bear the strain of the black market. There seems to be a curse on everything in his life. His nerves are devouring him and he thinks only about death. He has forgotten the comforts of faith, and wishes God would let him die swiftly like many heart attack victims. Instead, like his father and grandfather, he will linger in agony. He is so terrified that he analyzes all of death’s aspects. People say the dead still see family peering down at them, and Alwan can feel the eerie darkness, loneliness, and suffocation of the tomb. He knows God passes judgment and takes retribution before admitting anyone to paradise. Alwan clings to the fringe of life, even though it gives him no pleasure. He has consulted a variety of specialists and puts his whole faith in medicine.
Alwan constantly fights with himself and others. Senior employees are quitting and the remaining workforce is disgruntled. In the alley, green wheat is held responsible. Alwan and Kamil are estranged. Alwan targets his wife for special outbursts, hatred, and blame, calling her a vengeful viper and wondering if she suspects his plans to marry Hamida. She may have put a curse on his health. When Alwan is rude and insulting, she remains politely and patiently submissive, until finally he announces he will try his luck at marriage again. This shatters her self-control and sends her fleeing to her children, who want him to liquidate his business and devote full energies to restoring his heath. He announces that their mother is trying to kill him and a new woman will show him mercy. His fortune suffices should another heir arrive. All will be satisfied after his death, but while he lives, they are on their own. Alwan eliminates the household’s luxurious fare, making everyone share his dietary restrictions. The sons accept God’s inevitable will, but prepare steps to ensure a covetous new wife cannot neglect him.
Hamida’s disappearance shatters Alwan, even though he had rarely thought of her during his illness. He follows efforts to find her and the gossip about her running off with an unknown man. He resents the fickle girl and pictures her publicly hanged. Hearing of Abbas’s return from Tell el-Kebir, he invites the young man for a chat and tells him about Darwish, his former friend, shouting the news to him that Hamida had eloped. Alwan had cursed him as an idiot, making Darwish weep. Kamil and the old barber help him to the café and try to comfort him. Darwish continues weeping, howling, gasping, and trembling, causing people to look out their windows. Alwan abandons his pride and goes to the café to beg forgiveness.
On his second day back, Abbas is in Kamil’s flat when Hussain Kirsha seeks him out. Abbas has spent a sleepless night and a thoughtful morning. Despair has succeeded vengeance. They walk, with Abbas scarcely hearing details of Hussain’s life, opinions on the war, or the view that pitiful Egypt can find happiness only during a war. It grows dark. Hussain and cowardly Abbas both wish they had been heroic combat soldiers.
