We can see Kamal’s initial idealism slowly eroded by the expansion of his knowledge and shocking discovery that the shrine of al Husayn does not contain the martyr’s head and that it is just a symbol. Religion, which has been his favorite subject as a child, comes to mean very little. Patriotism, which has been the core of his lifeis now full of doubts and misgivings. Even his deep love for his father goes to pieces when he discovers the shameful duality of his nature. He can no longer believe in the truthfulness of anything; everything has turned into an illusion. But it is the loss of Aida and the death of Saad Zaghloul that affect his beliefs the most, filling him with “bitterness and a sense of betrayal.” He becomes more willing to plunge himself into Darwin and the other newly discovered philosophers. The similarity between Kamal and Egypt as a whole in this matter is obvious, and we can see how a society with a firm religious base can be opened up to philosophical questioning and disillusionment by internal betrayal as well.
Kamal’s eventual fall from idealism to atheism, and his doubt likewise provide and indicator of Egypt’s philosophical response to the new European philosophies. The respect Egyptians carried for anything European, coupled with disillusionment with leaders and traditional ideals, made modern European ideas of science, society and metaphysics all the more attractive and Kamal’s despair may reflect a realization in Egypt of the bleak implications of its newly embraced philosophies.
Kamal’s resolution at the end of Sugar Street seems to be indicative of change in Mahfouz and the country as a whole. Fed up with doubt, Kamal seems to embrace an existentialist position that believing anything and acting upon it is what is important. The outcome of this change is a mixture of Arabic tradition and European philosophy.
Conclusion
Naguib Mahfouz, I believe, is a political writer and a political historian. His most direct treatment of political and national issues is prevalent in his trilogy. He records the events of the national liberation struggle of Egypt in its various stages, and their impact on the daily life of the ordinary individual.
Naguib mahfouz combines public life with the private daily life of people. In this way he portrays the fact that the life of individuals is closely connected with that of the nation. This is expressed explicitly in Palace Walk: “While the nation was actively occupied in calling for freedom, Yasin was engaged in continuous action to gain his own freedom as well.”
Liberty is the central theme of his work in the Trilogy: both national freedom and private, individual liberty. The relations between the civilians and the nation as well as between sons/daughters and the father, and between man and woman depicts this.