Reflecting on the modern Arabic short stories

Qismati and Nasibi
The work and the author

Qismati and Nasibi, is a novel that talks about twins who are attached to one another. This is considered a blessing to a family that had for a long time hoped to have a kid to bring happiness in the family. This novel reflects on a number of challenges that the family faces before and after the birth of the twins. They however come to learn that a blessing may also turn out to be a burden. The children are given birth to as ghosts or certain creatures that are almost human beings but again have funny features. In this paper, I will therefore provide a plot summary of what the author intended to pass out to the readers.

Najib Mahfuz is regarded as the most prolific Arab writer in the 20th century from (1911-2006). He has worn Nobel prizes in his work as a writer of short stories and plays and literature in Arabic language. During his work, he successfully completed thirty-five novels, three collections of journals and fourteen collections on various short stories.
Born in a distinct work-class family in Cairo, Egypt where he lived until he attained the age of 12 when the entire family decided to shift to the suburbs of Abbasiyya. He has written a number of novels and other collections, some of them reflecting on the leadership while others address issues that directly affected the Egyptians. After the death of the long time president of the republic of Egypt, Mr. Abdel Nasser, he wrote about the police force of the state (Kamak, 1974). Some of his other works that are recognized for creating vivid effects to the readers includes a list of titled books. Among them is Children of Gabelawi of 1967.

Plot summary

In this book, the writer introduces a God fearing man, whose efforts are channeled towards achieving the earthly success. A small-scale businessperson is introduced by the writer will all his attributes and aspects both in social life setting and spiritual life. His kindness and hard working trait is clearly portrayed. Mohsen Khalil is said to have been of mid height and weighty to attract and control many things according to his own believes. The writer uses his to pass a massage to the readers of how a family can start from scratch to achieve the best they would desire in this world.

The persona gets married to Sitt Anabaya who turns out to be a submissive woman whose efforts in the kitchen are well presented. She cooks well and gives her best to her husband.
Sitt however could be had a problem to conceive, she had sought the advice of many people, ideas from different shrines and finally sought the help of a doctor. This was to because the family really needed children to embrace the joy of their love. Life had begun to be at the top and the only barrier was lack of children. The problem continued and seemingly, the problem was for both the husband and Sitt. This has drained away their hopes of them seeing their offspring under the sun. Their prayer only comes true at the age of forty-five and forty respectively. This comes moments after amid blames and sorrow that had diminished the joy of the two couples who enjoyed not only well-prepared meals but also a lot of encouragement and mutual support in their business.
The news went round the village of al-Wayliya of how Mohsen is overwhelmed with the news on newly born babies. The long awaited nine months was finally at their hand and they were to enjoy the rewards of hard work, persistence and submission to one another. The tears of joy, clearing the sorrows of the past days when they sadness took control of the family. Religious chants and traditional citations were the order of the day, midwives running ups and down only to make sure that the dream actually turns out to be the expectation of not only the family but also the entire village who had seen how hard, sadness had taken the control of the innocent and polite man’s house.

Another long days and disappointments start again to the only man who had believed in his efforts and prayers to see his offspring. Midwife comes out of the labor room so disappointed and whispers to him out the outcome. The woman has given birth to a creature; this was the final message that was passed from the midwife. With a disappointed face Mohsen, moves in to witness for himself.

This was a creature of two heads, four hands and just two legs. Crying differently and with different demands but simultaneously. This opened another wound for the family. The single twin received the best of their parental care, love and all the necessary support that they would require from their parents.
To Sitt who recovered afterwards considered it as another long hard life to carry two in one twins, thinking not only what they would feed on but how they will survive after they grew up to adult. Each of them would have his own demands are would also want to be independent.

The family there after started arguments over who will care for the kids and how they will be attending to their respective demands. They were thereafter; named as Quismati and Nasibi based on the sides they took during the birth order. The left and the right respectively.

They behaved funnily at the age of four. They could look through the window raise their heads and as multiple questions. They were boys so they had a lot of energy in doing their things.

They could extend their hands towards the moon during summer time when they are seated outside the house. This gave their mother a high mountain to climb in life as they struggle to make only to find out that they managed to come up with a funny creature. Nasibi had a lot of anger as compared to Quismati.
Their father one day placed them on a chair and children of all ages gathered to closely see the kids.
The wife on the other hand thought of divine spirits and initiated the kids with some friends who could be their playmates. The children grew up happily and specialized in different lines of study. One inclined on the side of education while the other loved manual work. Qismati was loyal to Nasibi in everything they did together.
The two children conclude that because of demand for happiness in life, that was why they turned out to be miserable.
There is irony in this paper. The author starts by bringing the efforts of a family and dedication to get the best in their lives. This takes ages to come. However, when the long awaited expectation comes forth, it turns out to be yet another burden that stresses the family for the entire life. Again, the novel quickly takes us through the way the parents adjust to accept the states of their children.

Thesis statement

This paper reflects on a tragedy that befalls family after tirelessly hoping and praying for happiness to come their way. The summary of the novel tells a story of a family that had for a long time been faithful to God, hard working and the only source of happiness they hoped for was to have kids. This seemed to be a thin line of air for the family but finally their dream comes true.
The author tries to bring a lesson to be learnt and this is that whatever comes your way, we should always be ready to accept them no matter how they look like.
This novel also reflects on efforts and persistence of individuals when dedicated to do tasks in their lives. This is seen through the prayer and efforts that Sitt applied when raising up the twins. The novel is also consistent and presents a transition from one paragraph to the other with a clear reflection on each character mentioned in the novel. It also gives a summary of the history of the author.

Argument

Through a number of approaches, I would stage my argument for the novel in this manner. Critically, the novel reflects on a family setting, it addresses more of turmoil for the family and the kind of life they live. This is a clear indication that efforts, determination and dedication pay.
Based on the story, the reality is diminished with the sense of literal reflection of the story. The author introduces a story in a smart manner, he engages the readers through the story and leaves them ion suspense after providing certain statements in the novel that seem to reflect on the final decision that the parents would take to ensure that each of the twins get his best. This is seen on when he addresses on the approaches the father to the kids take on handling the issue. In addition, the author reflects on acceptance. He reflects the family of the kids to be submissive and humble to the will of God.

However, the author fails to reflect on how the children will be dealing with their own issues. This is because the two are attached at one point. This critical issue really needed to be addressed in the story so that the readers may be able to get solutions or get relieved from the tension developed during the reading process.

There is consistency of the in the story, it reflects on the traits of each character that is presented in the novel. This particular story also has a diverse target group that forms the largest audience of the story. The author chooses to use the names of the twins but not the parents or the occurrences in the story. This is because the two kids are the subject of the story.