Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors.

~Evelyn Cunningham

It is difficult to comprehend the enormity to which we are products of our own society; how our every action is influenced by the world we live in. As humans, we pride ourselves on our evolutionarily streamlined adaptability to change, book after book is written, analyzing these changes; changes in power, changes in social structure, changes in way of life. Throughout history, as the way of life, social structure, and person in power has shifted, women have ultimately held the same role. Whether its a result of some inherent quality we possess, the society and cultures we have constructed, or a combination. The true immovability of women seems to have fascinated men and women. Cross culturally, cross history, we can see this. Despite the difference in time period, culture, and societal expectations in Marquezs Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Mahfouzs Midaq Alley, there is one common theme displayed successfully by both authors. Both authors use of character relationships, tradition, and modernization depict the underlying consistency of unfair societal expectations imposed onto women. In Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Midaq Alley, Marquez and Mahfouz both highlight the theme that women have a subsidiary status to men. Both authors use character relationships to underscore this idea. This passage in Chronicle of a Death Foretold describes what Prudencia did while Pablo was in jail. Prudencia Cotes stood waiting in the kitchen until she saw them leave by the courtyard door, and she kept on waiting for three years without a moment of discouragement until Pablo Vicario got out of jail and became her husband for life.(63) The says a lot about. Marquez used tone and word choice in this passage to show how women are viewed and expected to act in this society. The word stood implies that she stood waiting for Pablo for 3 years, instead of being her own person she was simply property of her husband. The word kitchen, shows the traditional relationship

between husband and wife. It symbolizes the traditional place for a woman, the kitchen. In a kitchen a woman is in charge, however she is still waiting on her husband. The tone of this passage is short and to the point, nothing is said about her emotions. It shows just how much emphasis is put on marriage and the subservient role women play. Mahfouz uses character relationships in Midaq Alley to depict the unfair societal expectations of women. In this quote Ibrahim Faraj is trying to seduce Hamida. "God forgive you. Why are you angry? Aren't you on this earth to be taken? And I'm just the one to take you" (167) Mahfouz uses words like taken take you the one to highlight the male centric society. Ibrahim is referring to Hamida as if she were a possession for him to take without approval from her. He is acting as if its his right as a man to choose whichever women he desires, when he says Why are you angry? it implies that she has no reason to be angry in their society. Mahfouz uses Hamida and Ibrahims relationship as a way to highlight the subordinate position of women in 1940 Egyptian society. Both passages show how completely different societys such as; Midaq Alley, and a small Latin American Village, hold very similar values about the expected conduct of women. Marquez and Mahfouz use tradition to show how the theme that women have a subordinate status to men is manifested in everyday life. In this passage the narrator describes the life of Angela Vicario and her sisters.

The brothers were brought up to be men. The girls were brought up to be married. They knew how to do screen embroidery, sew by machine, weave bone lace, wash and iron, make artificial flowers and fancy candy, and write engagement announcements my mother thought there were no better-reared daughters. 'They're perfect,' she was frequently heard to say. 'Any man will be happy with them because they've been raised to suffer.(20)

They were raised from the time they were little girls, to be the perfect wives. Girls in this culture are not allowed to follow their dreams, they are expected to do their chores, learn how to be a house wife,

get married a virgin and have children. The last sentence tells us that instead of marrying for love, they are being married to whichever man the mother and father give their ok to. And because theyve been raised to suffer the man will be happy, even though they may be miserable. In his novel, Marquez shows tradition in a negative light, showing that the people who tradition effects are victims, such as the girls taught to be good wives, and may as well be slaves to the corrupt beliefs of tradition and honor. In this passage, an old man walks into Kirshas Caf, you can tell from his conversation with Kirsha that he is a regular. The second half of the passage is spoken by Kirsha to the old man. A senile old man is now approaching the caf. He is so old that the passing of time has left him with not a single sound limb [] People today dont want a poet. They keep asking me for a radio and theres one over there being installed now.(3-6)

It is apparent that Kirsha does not want the old -reciting poetry anymore, but his reason is because the people in his caf do not want to hear any more poetry. He is appealing to the public so he can make his profit. Mahfouz uses the old-man as a symbol for tradition, and the public infatuated with modernism. Mahfouz creates this symbol in various ways through his novel, eventually driving home his point that modernism claims innocent people as its victims.

Mahfouz paints the new combating modern culture as corruptive and having a negative effect on the people that are drawn to it. Of all the people in Midaq Alley, Hamida is the one who lusts most for an escape from tradition and poverty. Although Hamida is very beautiful and could potentially marry any eligible man in the alley, she despises her traditional culture, calling them all "nonentities." She longs for a life free from the social and cultural constraints that fall on her, often taking walks to a nearby modernized square where she is free to indulge in her fantasies about life without tradition. She tells her mother "If you had seen the factory girls! You should just see those Jewish girls who go to work. They all go about in nice clothes. Well, what is the point of life then if we

can't wear what we want?" Upon escaping the alley, Hamida is enlightened and empowered. She has the feeling of freedom and liberty for the first time. But little does she know that instead of actually gaining freedom and empowerment, she has simply changed her setting. Hamida is introduced as such a strong character. However in the face of modernism and all of its temptation, she has no compass to guide her, everything is new and enticing to her. Hamida represents Egyptian society and how a culture of people with such strong traditions and religion could be so easily pulled towards modernization. Mahfouz writes Midaq Alley to highlight the negative effect that modernism has on ancient traditions and society, because it motivates people to abandon all values and traditions for a lifestyle that is deceptively new and enticing. Marquezs Chronicle of a Death Foretold shows that inevitable change and modernization is a good thing in direction with the natural order of things. Mahfouz was in fact making the opposite argument with Midaq Alley; he argues that modernization is corruptive, taking innocent victims. Today, we live in modern times and much has changed since the 1940s, however our world is far from perfect. Picture a 12 year old girl, dreaming of becoming a doctor, but her parents tell her she cant finish the 7th grade because she is getting married to a grown man she doesnt know. Child marriage is still a huge problem for many girls around the world, and although the majority of us are blissfully content to live in our bubble of perfect democracy here in America, we need to be looking at the whole picture, and our world is far from it, even in America, every time you turn the radio on to top 20 hits you have no choice but listen to lyrics that degrade women to little more than sex toys put on this earth to please men. We seem to be content with trading evils for lesser evils. In my opinion our tragic flaw as humans is that we are controlled by societys expectations, which we create; so humans are the driving force behind societys corruption.