Fountain And Tomb- Ignorance And Truth Essay, Research Paper
In the novel Fountain and Tomb by Naguib Mahfouz, the reader is thrown into a little back street in Cairo, Egypt in the 1920s. The storyteller is an grownup live overing his childhood through many random, interesting sketchs of his young person. We learn about many different facets of Egyptian life from political rebellion, to set up matrimonies, to spiritual devotedness, to gang warfare. We are led to reason that one of the major subjects of the book is Truth. We come to oppugn whether Truth is something that ever needs to be known. Will the Truth finally do more injury than good? Is at that place of all time a clip when the Truth must be told? Are at that place times when it s better for the Truth to ne’er be known?
Truth is invariably sought out in Fountain and Tomb. Our immature storyteller is frequently like a investigator, listening attentively to conversations, doing acute observations of state of affairss, and seeking out replies to inquiries he doesn T know. The twenty-four hours is lovely but evocative with enigma, our storyteller says, placing all the terra incognitas in the universe around him ( Mahfouz, 15 ) .
An issue which is mentioned throughout the narrative is the construct of Ignorance is bliss, which is an old platitude intending what we don t know can t ache us. While rub downing his bare female neighbour s organic structure, the storyteller is asked if he s traveling to state his female parent. No, he answers. So you even know that certain things are better left unexpressed! You truly are a Satan ( Mahfouz, 13 ) . The neighbour makes the obvious point that sometimes there are things that don Ts have to be repeated, for the benefit of all the parties involved. Some might reason that the Truth will ever come out, and by concealing it person will stop up being affected by it much more subsequently on. But that is merely if the information does acquire repeated. Knowledge doesn T ever have to be repeated, as was shown by our storyteller and his neighbour. If the storyteller had told his female parent, would any of the parties benefit from this cognition?
We learn of a instance where happening out the truth was a annihilating experience for one household. Hag Ali Khalafawy was rich because he had stolen another adult male s money. When he was on his decease bed he told his boy of his larceny and asked that the luck be returned to its rightful proprietors. The boy didn T believe it, and his male parent answered, It s the truth, no more, no lupus erythematosus ( Mahfouz, 96 ) . This new cognition ( Truth ) had all of a sudden turned the boy s universe inverted, and he was really disquieted. The narrative ends with the boy purportedly assisting his male parent base on balls off so he won t be forced to return his luck. This is a instance where the male parent thought it was necessary for the Truth to come out, but where did it go forth his household? So we wonder, is the Truth ever the best thing to be told? Can it make more injury than good? In this instance it did. Truth merely brought approximately more hurting, struggle, and problem than if it had non been told.
When our storyteller is discoursing with Anwar Gilel on the fountain stairss, Gilel has made an dumbfounding realisation. I ve merely realized that I m a pupil among viing pupils in a school which throws together pupils from counter small lanes, in an back street in the center of warring back streets, that I m a animal among 1000000s of animals both seen and unobserved on a ball of clay awhirl amid a solar system over which I have no control, that this solar system is itself lost in eternal infinite & # 8230 ; It goes on and he asks the storyteller whether the Sun will come up tomorrow. I d take stakes on it, the chap answered. Gilel ends the statement by stating, Blessed are the ignorant, for they are happy ( Mahfouz, 115 ) . Gilel besides has realized that what people don T know is sometimes better for them. It makes them experience better, safer, and happier. And we wonder which is more of import, cognizing the Truth, or cognizing plenty of the Truth to maintain us satisfied with life and happy. In this narrative we notice that by being ignorant of the fantastic complexness of the universe around him, the storyteller is more at easiness with life than his opposite number, Gilel. If Gilel was to recite this disclosure to his community, opening their eyes to the Truth, would it be good to anyone?
In another narrative, the male child s male parent was holding a conversation with a school teacher, Mustafa Al-Dashoory. After denouncing their spiritual beliefs and all that they know and stand for, Al-Dashoory commented, And some twenty-four hours mankind will accomplish a certain integrity in themselves and in society. Then and merely so, by virtuousness of Thursday
is new human personality, will we understand the significance of deity. Its ageless kernel will go clear … ( Mahfouz, 111 ) . He claims that the Truthfulness of deity will go clear when world becomes whole. He wants to distribute this cognition to the community, but the male parent knows better. He knows that faith is all his people have, and to state them these thoughts, whether they be Truth or non, will certainly corrupt them. Al-Dashoory takes the male parent s advice, and people end up disregarding him. This supports the thought that people don t need to cognize everything, and cognizing excessively much could really ache people. In this instance Truth ( or what he believes is Truth ) is something that could interrupt people s Black Marias by doing them oppugn their nucleus beliefs. It doesn t seem right to ache people in order to inform them of something that might be Truth. We once more come to the inquiry of whether distributing this Truth would function any benefit to those involved, or would it convey approximately more wretchedness?
In one narrative, our storyteller makes assorted observations about the province of his universe. He notes all the pandemonium, lawlessness, and daftness that he sees around him, and in the terminal says, And I tell myself that what is go oning is an exciting and incredible dream ( Mahfouz, 26 ) . He is disregarding the Truth that he knows exists, because he doesn T privation to accept it. He doesn T like the fact that the Truth which he has learned isn T good, or nice, or happy. He merely pretends that it is a dream. This supports the thought that the Truth International Relations and Security Network T ever what we need or want to cognize. Sometimes we d instead hear what we want to hear because it comforts us, and makes us experience like our lives aren t every bit bad as they might be.
With the acquisition of cognition ( Truth ) frequently come huge alterations, sometimes for the worse. The knowing will hold bigger jobs than the ignorant. This was the instance with Saqr Mowazeeni, whose male parent had been an educated authorities functionary. When Saqr graduated, he got his pa s occupation. His pa subsequently died and left him with a immense household and no money. Saqr s most memorable comment was, If merely Father had been a rotter! My life would be free and easy ( Mahfouz, 70 ) . He reasoned that if his male parent had been an uneducated rotter, his life would hold been better. He s reasoning that excessively much instruction ( Truth ) had led his household into dark times. Is this by and large the instance? Does excessively much Truth normally lead to profit or harm?
Knowledge taking to alter is besides shown in Patrick Al-Hamawy s narrative. He was sent to England for higher surveies and when he returned home, he couldn t readjust to his old life ( Mahfouz, 44 ) . His new cognition ( Truth ) had made him different ; he now saw the universe through different eyes. This may non needfully be for the worse, but still it shows how Truth can do great disturbances. It can do people uncomfortable, and foreigners in their ain environments.
A narrative in which the Truth did hold a positive impact was that of Shalaby Ilaly. He had ever been really proud of his male parent, who was a simple store clerk. When his male parent died, he was really overwrought. When Shalaby was refused the manus of a grain trader s girl he discovered that his male parent had been a convicted of larceny and set in gaol. This had a profound impact on him. Because of his humiliation, he felt free to make whatever he wanted, without fright of what others might state. He tells our storyteller, The most of import thing in the universe is cognizing the truth. He goes on to note, The whole truth and nil but the truth ( Mahfouz, 69 ) . In this narrative, the Truth had a positive affect on the character. It gave him a new kind of freedom. He had gained a new sense of individuality because of his new cognition, and this evoked a sense of felicity in him.
In decision, in Naguib Mafouz s Fountain and Tomb, we are faced with a cardinal subject of Truth. It can be reasoned that most of the clip the Truth ( or cognition ) International Relations and Security Network T ever something that it is necessary to cognize. The Truth can convey approximately felicity, prosperity, or a positive affect, but that seems to go on much less often. Sometimes being ignorant of the Truth is better because it makes lives easier and happier. Peoples don t needfully need to cognize everything ( the whole Truth ) , because what they don Ts know can t truly ache them. Truth comes with extra luggage, and it sometimes leads to conflict, ache feelings, disaffection, or broken Black Marias. As the old expression goes, Ignorance is bliss. Fountain and Tomb does an first-class occupation of exemplifying that platitude.
