Echoes of an Autobiography

          In Naguib Mahfouz's Echoes of an Autobiography, Mahfouz has compiled numerous short stories and tales that shine light into his long-lived life.  Through his provision of these small accounts from different periods of his life with little order or structure, it can be understood that each and every one of these sections has its own lesson to give.  Upon looking back at these particular instances in his life, Mahfouz has culminated the messages that he has leaned over his years of experience that he deems crucial to be heard and taken to heart by his audience.
          Personally, I appreciate the second half of Mahfouz's piece in particular.  In these passages, Mahfouz makes continuous references to Sheikh Abd-Rabbih al-Ta'ih.  The Sheikh is obviously a man who Mahfouz holds in high regard and he has carefully placed the lessons that he learned from him within his book.  This is one way that we are able to see the Echoes being played out throughout the book.  The lessons that the Sheikh has taught Mahfouz resound through his life and have affected him in such a way that Mahfouz considered them such a substantial part of his existence that they deserve a place in his memoirs.  
          The lesson from the Sheikh that resounded in me was the passage where he draws the distinction between mercy and justice.  In the passage 'The End of the Ordeal', Mahfouz asks the Sheikh "How will the ordeal we are suffering end?" to which the Sheikh replies "If we come out safe, that is mercy; and if we come out doomed, that is justice" (91).  Taking into consideration my own Christian background, while understanding that the Muslim faith contains many of the same basic principles concerning God's providence and man's ability to be saved, I was left to consider what this section actually says.  It would seem that the Sheikh is saying that mankind is deserving of its suffering here on earth.  It is just that we all come to a final period of death.  It is only through the good grace of some higher being that we could ever hope to prosper unscathed.  That would be a true example of mercy from some one/thing who provides and cares for its creation.

A Tale of Love and Darkness

            In Amos Oz’s A Tale of Love and Darkness, Oz gives an account of his life growing up in the tumultuous city of Jerusalem.  The time period that Oz is describing in his autobiography is directly following the Second World War.  And, considering that Jerusalem was the center of the Zionist movement that Oz saw firsthand, there were some obvious implications when many Jews did not return back to their religious genesis.  That is, those Jews that did not return may very well have been killed by the Germans and Hitler’s attempt to create a perfect uniform race of people to dominate the world.  It is because of this realization that Oz begins to recognize from a young age that he wished to leave behind a legacy after his own death.  That by “becoming a book”, Oz would be able to leave an impression that would last longer than his physical self.  As he writes;

Because it was slowly dawning on those whose families had not arrived in Israel that the Germans had killed them all…. if I grew up to be a book, there was a good chance that at least one copy might manage to survive, if not here then in some other country, in some city, in some remote library, in a corner of some godforsaken bookcase. After all, I had seen with my own eyes how books manage to hide in the dusty darkness between the crowded rows, underneath heaps of offprints and journals, or find a hiding place behind other books. (298-9)

            Here we can see the obvious implications towards Oz’s becoming the renowned author that he has become.  Sense, as he grew up he realized that ‘becoming’ a book was slightly out of his ability, he needed to find another way to leave behind his impression.  It is for this reason that we see the progression of the autobiography take the route it does.  In an attempt to make his mark and be remembered more so than all the other Zionist Jews, Oz took to writing and has become quite successful in fulfilling his desire.