Miramar: Chapter 1 Questions
Miramar Character Descriptions
Characters
Amer Wagdi - An octogenarian, a former Wafdist or nationalist and journalist who returns to his beloved native
Alexandria upon his retirement.
Zohra Salama - A beautiful peasant girl or fallaha from the region of Beheira near Alexandria.
Sarhan al-Beheiry - A dark, solid peasant some 30 years old, with piercing eyes. He speaks with an irritating rural
accent.
Mahmoud Abu al-Abbas - A newspaper vendor in Ramleh Square in Alexandria, Egypt.
Hosny Allam - This character hails from an old country family in Tanta, where he owns 100 feddans of land, which
he has let out.
Rafat Amin - A member of the Base Unit at Amalgamated Metallurgies.
Mansour Bahy - A handsome 25-year-old with delicate features that are childish and almost feminine.
Ali Bakir - An engineer and friend of bookkeeper Sarhan al-Bekheiry.
Safeya Barakat - The name used by Sarhan al-Beheiry's jilted lover.
Doreya and Fawzi - Friends of narrator Mansour Bahy during his years at the University of Cairo.
Muhammad Kamel - A Nubian waiter at the Cecil Hotel in Alexandria, Egypt, he procures boarders for Mme.
Mariana's Miramar Pension in Alexandria.
Mme. Mariana - A Greek woman born in Alexandria who runs the Miramar Pension.
Tolba Marzuq - A Jesuit-trained former Undersecretary of State for the Ministry of Mortmain Endowments and one
of the deposed King Farouk's henchmen.
Aleya Muhammad - An attractive young school teacher, snub-nosed and a bit pinched in the shoulders, who lives
with her parents.
Umm Kulthum - An Egyptian singer, the most famous voice in the Middle East at the time of this novel.
Saad Zaghloul - A World War I-era politician, head of the Wafd or Nationalist Party in Egypt.
Locations/Objects/Organizations
Alexandria, Egypt - Egypt's chief port, this place provides the primary setting for the novel "Miramar".
Abu Qir, Egypt - A coastal village in the Nile Delta region where Hosny Allam stops during a driving rain storm to
have sex with a prostitute.
Anfushi, Egypt - A suburb of Alexandria, which is frequently mentioned in the novel in relationship to its smell of
fisheries.
Arab Socialist Union (ASU) - The only legal political party in Egypt at the time this novel is set..
Beheira, Egypt - The large coastal region of Egypt, extending inland from the Mediterranean Sea.
Cairo, Egypt - The capital of Egypt and home to narrator Mansour Bahy.
Genevoise - An upscale brothel fronting on the Corniche in Alexandria.
Mazarita, Egypt - A suburb of Alexandria where Sarhan al-Beheiry lives with Safeya Barakat on Sharia Lido, before
moving into the Miramar Pension.
Miramar Building - A massive old building in Alexandria, Egypt,which sits on a strip of land that sticks out into the
Mediterranean Sea.
Muslim Brotherhood - The conservative political party that is formed after World War I to promote traditional
Islamic forms of law over the secular values espoused by other parties.
Tanta, Egypt - A city located north of Cairo in the Nile Delta and home to Hosny Allam.
Wafd Party - The liberal, nationalist political party in Egypt following World War .
Questions - Chapter 1, Amer Wagdi
1. How old is Amer Wagdi when he returns to his old residence?
2. Who was Wagdi's late master?
3. What does Wagdi recall?
a) All the things he should have recorded in memoirs concerning his late master.
b) The birth of his son.
c) The death of his wife.
d) The time his mother sat up with him all night and talked.
6. What do Amer and Mariana compare?
7. What do Amer and Mariana plan?
8. Who is Tolba Marzuq?
9. What does Amer think of Marzug?
10. What is Marzug to Mariana?
11. Who is Zohra?
12. Why is Mariana delighted about Zohra arriving?
13. What is Amer's concern about Zohra?
14. Who does Zohra distrust?
15. Who exploited Zohra?
18. What does Zohra think about Tolba's request for a massage?
19. Which of the boarders is a 30-year-old peasant?
20. Which boarder is built like a wrestler?
21. Which boarder is an announcer for Alexandria Broadcasting Service?
22. Who does the narrator say is an introvert?
23. Who has a monthly radio concert?
24. What do all of the three younger boarders declare?
25. For what is Amer famous?
26. How does Tolba feel about the new male boarders?
27. About what does Amer warn Zohra?
28. What does Amer wish about one mistake he made?
30. What (who) does Amer wish to trust again?
31. What happened in Azhar in 1919?
32. What is Hosny doing when Amer checks on noise in the hall?
33. Why are Sarhan and a drunken Hosny fighting?
34. What news does Mariana bring about Sarhan days after he leaves.