ROLE OF ECONOMIC DISPARITY IN FEMALE VICTIMIZATION IN NAGUIB MAHFOUZ’S NOVEL ‘THE BEGINNING AND THE END’

Abstract

The objective of the study is to examine the impact of economic disparity in female victimization in Nagiub Mahfouz’s novel “The Beginning and the End”. Economic inequality has played a key role in maintaining the secondary role given to women. A female is affected in many ways by socio-economic and socio-political structures depending on their class, race, nationality, religion, language, disability, sexual preferences and education (Liu, 2022). The theoretical framework of Socialist Feminism (Armstrong, 2020) was used to understand the concept of inferiority of women in society; the female has been given a secondary position in society on the basis of economic factors throughout the ages. The textual analysis of Naguib Mahfouz’s novel ‘The Beginning and the End’ unfolded the role of economic disparity for female victimization particularly in Egyptian culture. The current study helped not only to explore the reasons of economic disparity in gender roles but also provided a door for further study in same context. Key Words: Economic Disparity, Female victimization, Gender roles, socio-political structures, Egyptian culture and Textual analysis.