Maryam's Maze Analysis

Maryam's Maze, a novel written by Mansoura Ez-Eldin in 2004, explores the dream-like state of a young woman in Egypt. The main character, Maryam, finds herself waking from a horrific dream and then plunged into a reality that she does not feel is her own. Roaming through the streets of Cairo and her childhood home, Maryam explores memories of her past, which ultimately end up in confusion. The novel leaves these questions unanswered, adding to its mysterious and disjointed nature. However, despite the beautifully intriguing prose, there is undoubtedly a motive behind Ez-Eldin's novel other than literary prowess. In fact, Maryam's adventure through Cairo unveils the impacts of the state on Egyptian society. Various institutions are at play within the novel, with economic institutions being of utmost importance. For instance, there is a juxtaposition between the once elegant El Tagi's palace and the cardboard slums that Maryam later walks through. El Tagi's palace, constructed by Maryam's ancestor, was where she grew up and is described as having had brilliant gardens and grand architecture, which is in stark contrast to the “city of cardboard [that was] Nothing but buildings and streets of paper, waiting for some ill-natured breeze to remove them from existence, exposing the ruin that had taken hold of their essence” (Ez-Eldin, 30). Maryam does not seem to travel through any middle-class neighborhood but rather fluctuates between two extremes: the wealthy and the poor. For instance, Maryam once lived in a palace but now resides in a run-down youth hostel. David D. Kirkpatrick, a journalist for The New York Times, explains in his article “Rich, Poor and a Rift Exposed by Unrest” that “as the Mubarak administration has taken steps toward privatizing more government businesses, kicking off an economic boom for some, rich Egyptians have fled the city. They have flocked to gated communities full of big American-style homes around country clubs, and the remoteness of their lives from those of average Egyptians has become starkly visible” (Kirkpatrick). Kirkpatrick suggests that economic reform instituted by the Mubarak government has left a chasm growing between social classes over the last decade. It seems as if the “ruin” that Ez-Eldin writes as having “taken hold of their essence” is really the result of these economic decisions put into play by Mubarak.