Midaq Alley, by Naguib Mahfouz, is a narrative told from the third-person omniscient point of view. Normally, this means that the reader can see the events of each character's life from the same point of view as God. No one in particular tells the story, and the reader sees the story from the point of view of an invisible person who is always present on the scene. Midaq Alley is definitely different. Mahfouz creates an impartial character capable of observing everything that happens in the novel. No, this character is not God, nor even an invisible person; in Midaq Alley, this character is the alley itself. From the beginning the reader is introduced to Midaq Alley. Immediately the reader learns that the alley “is one of the gems of times gone by and that it once shone like a flashing star in the history of Cairo” (Mahfouz 1). Furthermore, the reader learns that “Midaq Alley lives in almost complete isolation from all surrounding activity…” (Mahfouz 1). Clearly the alley was once a lively and important place, but is now an isolated place stuck in times long gone. Through these descriptions, Mahfouz introduces the reader to the main character of the novel, the alley. This detached and ancient alley will serve as the setting for almost the entire novel. All the events described in the novel occur from the vantage point of the alley. Mahfouz then introduces the physical aspects of the alley. “One side consisted of a shop, a cafe and a bakery, the other another shop and an office. It ends abruptly, just as its former glory did, with two adjacent houses, each of three stories” (Mahfouz 1). Just like all authors do with any character, Mahfouz wants his reader to visualize Midaq...... in the center of the paper...... different from a person, the alley attracts a certain group of people, like Uncle Kamil and Radwan Hussainy, while rejecting others, such as Kirsha and Hamida. Just as relationships between people grow and develop over time, the relationship between Abbas and the alley has changed over the course of the novel; he was content and at peace with his life in the alley, until his love for Hamida and some prodding from his friend Hussain showed him that there was more to the world than the alley. Midaq Alley contributed a lot to Abbas' development and pushed him towards a new life. Mahfouz brilliantly uses Midaq Alley as a catalyst in the lives of its inhabitants, making him a real and vital character who exerts influence and influences the interactions between other characters throughout the novel. Works Cited Mahfouz, Naguib. Midaq Alley. New York, NY: Anchor Books, 1966.