watches Hamida leave Midaq

Chapters 23-25 Analysis This section watches Hamida leave Midaq Alley with no compunction, and Hussain Kirsha limps back bitterly. Considerable space is given to Ibrahim Faraj, who acquires a name and whose crass motives the narrator is at pains to point out. Every step of his seduction of Hamida is thoroughly planned; she slips into his fingers faster than he expects, even with her temper. The motif of having babies and living in filthy gutters covered with flies, earlier described by Zaita as the fate of street beggars, recurs here: Faraj is removing Hamida from that. Kirsha, his wife, and son fight again, but psychologically need and allow reconciliation. Kirsha’s impure thoughts about the new brother-in-law soften his temper but suggest new crises of the old sort may lay ahead. The war is ending and economic recession threatens an artificially prosperous Egypt. The novel’s avaricious characters will be facing new trials.