Wealth Inequality

The wealth inequality in Cairo is the basis for the masked man’s revolution because they manage to play on the fear and feelings of despair that the downtrodden feel. The imposter is able to draw out the anger of the suffering to turn them on the rulers that have abandoned them.

The most important example of this is during the speech and riots in al-Arafa. First, the city itself is described as a crumbling and difficult place to live; a city destroyed after the affluent decided to move on. The narrator says, “The influx of farmers, peasants, and immigrants into the city meant a fresh set of inhabitants for the necropolis- mostly impoverished. The mausoleums had fallen into disrepair.. There was no running water, no gas lines or steam-run machinery, not even paved roads” (126). Al-Arafa is in a state of disrepair and the people...