Short Stories of Arabic Group 2

The Lawsuit seemed a bit odd to me. This story of a man whose father was married with children marries again and then dies. The second wife makes off with the money and then years later wants maintenance because she no longer can afford the lifestyle she had grown accustomed to. This seems entirely her fault and I have no sympathy for her at all. I would have liked to see what the verdict would have been in the case that would have made the story of much more interest to me. The thing I do not understand in the slightest is how people can live like this. Being a family and then introducing another wife into the household did this other wife cook and clean and take care of the household chores or was she simply a trophy for the old man. That is where arrogance and ignorance collide head-on, in the heart of an old man. He thinks that because he has money and wealth that this young woman would love him, but in turn she only ever loved his money. The family knew this, but the old man was oblivious and up until the very end of the story it is believed by the family that she was simply putting on a rouse.
Naguib Mahfouz tells an interesting story in A Long-Term Plan. The main character Isam al-Baqli is a very rugged, good-for-nothing man who mooches off of everyone he knows, especially his mother. When his mother dies he is left with nothing and no one so he begins a downward spiral into poverty and eventually is on the brink of starvation when a company offers him a grand sum of money for his house. He accepts the offer at the age of seventy and believes that everything is turning around for him. He gets new clothes, a new place to stay and gets completely cleaned up; however this is his last night alive. He dies directly after this happens and I do not think it was out of place. He had, his entire life, been no good to anyone, not even himself so in the end it made no difference that he finally had money and wealth because he did not get to enjoy it, and I do not think he should have had that opportunity.