Half a Day by Naguib Mahfouz || Grade 11 || Optional English || Summary and Exercise

 

About the Author:
•Naguib Mahfouz is an Egyptian author who became popular after receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988 AD.

About this Story:
•It was originally written in Arabic
•Published in 1989 as a part of a short story collection called “The False Dawn”.
•It is a short story about a young child who doesn't want to go to school on his first day, he sees school as a punishment.
•Narrator: A young schoolboy
•Themes: fatherhood, cycle of life, love, friendship
•Moral: Cherish every moment of life because time is not something we can get back.

Characters:
1. A young child- He is a narrator of this story. He is taken to school by his father on his first day. While returning he himself has become a middle-aged man.
2. His father- He takes his son to school though his son was unwilling to go.

Summary:
"Half a Day" is a short story which was originally written in Arabic by an Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz. It is about a young child who doesn't want to go to school on his first day, he sees school as a punishment.
He is really nervous when he leaves his father, but once he gets to school, he realizes that it's not that bad.

The story opens in an unnamed city early in the morning. The narrator, a young boy, is struggling to keep up with his father, who is walking him to school for the first time.
The boy is delighted with the new clothes he is wearing, but he is uneasy about going
to school. As he walks along, he occasionally turns to ask his father why he must go.
Although his father remarks that the day represents an important step forward in lije,
the narrator is nervous. He feels he's being punished.

At the gate to the school, the boy hesitates to get in, but he is gently pushed by his father
to enter the schoolyard. Upon stepping into the yard, the boy meets the other boys and girls. One boy approaches and asks the narrator who brought him to school. When he replies that it was his father, the other boy states that his own father is dead. The narrator is wordless.

Then the school's gate is closed. Some of the children burst into tears. Meanwhile, a lady and some men come. The men start to sort the children into ranks. The lady tells them that the school is their new home, where there is everything that is charming and useful to intelligence and religion. Gradually all the children find themselves enjoying their new environment. They attend classes, play games, nap, and make new friends.They also come to realize that their new lives involve a great deal of hard work as well as frustration.

When the bell rings to announce the end of the day, the narrator steps outside the gate, but his father is not waiting there for him as promised. When his father doesn't show up, he begins walking home by him and runs into a middle-aged man. They greet one another and shake hands. The narrator continues walking, only to find that the city has changed dramatically since the morning. He's now surrounded not by gardens, but by crowds of people, cars, and tall buildings. Increasingly alarmed and more desperate to reach home than ever, the narrator is trying to cross a busy street. He is unable to cross the street because of heavy traffic. Finally, a young boy offers to help him across addressing him as "Grandpa"- the little boy has passed an entire life time what seemed like only half a day, and is now an old man at the end of his life.