“19502”
The title of this story—and the execution therein—is an exercise in irony. The story is a metaphorical identity crisis made literal when a man’s face disappears and he seems to become invisible to the world. The irony lies in the fact that it is the revolutionary government that is actually suffering the identity crisis: 1952 was the year of the Egyptian revolution and the title is suggesting that zero changes were implemented.
“The Wallet”
This is a story that makes it point by turning hard on an ironic upsetting of expectations for a character within the narrative. Sami has come to view his father as a somewhat mythic figure who in his role as the patriarchal protector and provider is almost beyond criticism. Except for his criticizing his father’s refusal to give him money so he can attend a movie with friends. He makes plans to sneak into his parents’ bedroom and steal from the title object only to be confronted by the harshly ironic reality conveyed by emptiness of the wallet. The result is a positive conversion toward empathy and contribution.
“Hard Up”
Poor Abdou starts out the story as cook and slowly works his way down the scale of social mobility through vegetable vender hawking wares on the street to the bottom level of selling his blood just to survive. And then comes one of the most corrosive examples of irony in literature: he develops anemia which puts him out of even that particular method of raising revenue.
“The Cheapest Nights”
The persistence of irony in this story commences with the title. It reaches its zenith, however, with the protagonist, having added considerably to his already abundant output of offspring, wondering “what pit in heaven or earth kept throwing them up." The story itself answers that question affirmatively with satirical commentary on the cyclical nature of poverty, but the character himself never seems to catch on.
“The Errand”
The protagonist of this story is currently a cop in small village who constantly regrets the decision of his family to move away from Cairo. His recollections of the excitement of the city remain with him and so when the opportunity to deliver a mentally unbalanced woman to an asylum in the capital arises, he jumps on it. The story proceeds to become an ironic urban nightmare ultimately resulting in the cop not being able to get back to his home village fast enough.
