Naguib Mahfouz's Case

Throughout Naguib Mahfouz's "The Lawsuit" there are various elements of fiction that develop the story. One element that the author uses effectively throughout the piece to convey diverse messages is character. Mahfouz presents a number of different personalities through the use of various characters. The main character is the youngest son who tells the story through the first person point of view. With the use of dynamic character the author efficiently depicts family controversy and struggle with a twist or irony to conclude the story.

The use of character and development are evident from the very introduction of the story. Although the main characters remain anonymous throughout the writing the author uses a combination of flat and dynamic characters to develop the story. It is quickly established that the narrator of the story, the youngest son, is the central character in the writing.

The narrator introduces his father early in the piece as he describes he is being sued by his father's widow, which gives the reader the perception that the father is now dead. He then begins to tell the story of the earlier family life when he his father was living and the widow was young. The author writes, "My father had married her, when he was in his mid-fifties and she a girl of twenty," (Mahfouz 77). This writing conveys to the reader the huge age difference between the narrator's father and his widow. The author also paints the setting for the short story with this description.

The father is portrayed as hard working, middle-aged, old-fashioned, family man. The author describes a large family with two brothers, mother, father, and older sisters who no longer live in the home with the rest of the family. Mahfouz illustrates that the family was content as long as they were together as a single-family unit (77). However, the narrator describes most of these family members as very simple, flat characters.

The narrator's mother and father aren't described in great detail. There is not any dialogue between the mother and father at all during the piece. The mothers is portrayed as a very flat character and the only time she is really described having an emotion is when speaking about how they will be left with none of the fathers family savings. She is worried that the father's new young woman will drain him dry for what he worked for. However, she doesn't really seem too concerned with the family's well being other than her ex-husband's wealth or fortune, which paints her as a very shallow, flat character.

The narrator's older brother is also illustrated as a flat character in this piece whose primary concern is once again receiving his father's inheritance. He is briefly described as being unable to read and mentally retarded but is still able to convey to his father that he wants his inheritance and to get rid of his young new love interest (Mahfouz 78). This character is also presented as being very one sided and having only one ultimate goal, which is to get his piece of his family inheritance, which is stored in the cupboard.

The new wife and eventual young widow is yet another character described as being very shallow and flat throughout the piece. Early in the writing there isn't any dialogue described with her character. The author just paints her as beautiful yet selfish and greedy person as she eventual does away with the deceased father's inheritance, which was stored in the cupboard. However, the author does convey that over time the greed and selfishness that consumed her eventually took away her physical beauty. Mahfouz states, "the beauty that had made away with our fortune and ruined us had completely vanished" (Mahfouz 79). With the description on the physical changes of the widow the author also depicts how the narrator has evolved as a person.

The narrator, who is also described as being the youngest son and child in the family, is also the most dynamic. From the beginning of the writing as the story unfolds he describes