A Look Into Nagi’s Face Analysis
How destructive is power? This is a question one might contemplate while reading ‘A Look into Nagi’s Face’. Alaa’ El Aswani depicted power’s effect on a very small environment represented in the classroom. A Look into Nagi’s Face tells the story of a young boy who appears to be in the lower/middle class. This boy went to a strict French school where the teacher would hit whoever makes a mistake. When this happens other students would act as if they had seen nothing and the day would just continue normally. One day, Nagi, a new rich student with French origins came to the school and all the students became fascinated by him. He became their leader and the day the teacher hit him they all revolted. The teacher took Nagi and went out of the classroom and then returned alone. The kids wondered what happened and told their parents; their mothers weren’t free to hear from them and their fathers reprimanded them for rebelling. The next day Nagi came and they all tried to ask what happened, but the answer they got was just a smile. They went to class and the teacher let Nagi watch over them and when the lower class boy, supposedly Nagi’s, friend talked Nagi wrote his name on the black board and the teacher hit him once he got back.
The theme of the short story is mainly Power and how it enslaves people. This is portrayed in multiple incidents, first is depicted in this passage: ‘The Frere is in front of me brandishing his cane in the air. There is no way out. I extend my hand and he grips it and brings the cane down on it. I scream and cry and beg him to forgive me, but he strikes and strikes and then lets me fall back into my seat. I look tearfully at the boys around me. I call on them to be my witnesses, but they pretend to be reading and following the lesson.’ This showed that even as children, people learn to be slaves to power and not