This blog is about the short story Sequestration in The Cairo House
This story begins with a flashback to another event in the author’s past. The author just came home to find her parents’ watching President Nasser give a talk, which resulted in being called Revolution Day. The author didn’t understand this at the time, but her parents didn’t have enough money. Sequestration was occurring throughout the next few days where men came over and counted inventory of her family’s possessions. Her family had to fire almost all of their house servants, and even one of the cooks wanted to take a pay-cut to avoid not having a job anymore. The author overheard conversations about what was happening and was finally told the truth from Madame Helene. Her family were in debt and their bank accounts were frozen, resulting in her parents talking about having a divorce. The husband said it was best for his wife to get a divorce because then she would be able to have some property. Eventually, when thinking what would be best for their child, they decided to separate. The end of the story happens with the author, who realized she overslept, was trying to find her father and saw that his bag underneath his bed was missing.
The story is very sad because it involves the changes to the author’s life when her parents are forced to give off their possessions for survival. The author didn’t realize how good of a life she had until everything was taken away. When it was her birthday, she was used to having all of her classmates coming over to celebrate. However, only one person showed up, and it was a family member. She was told the next day by one of her friends that she wanted to show up, but her parents forbid it due to the sequestration. She reflects at the end that all of the possessions her family could still have were for pride, for the good name of the family. The author missed the good old days, and I think this is something we should consider. No matter what background we come from, we should be thankful for what we have. Whether we come from a wealthy or poor, large or small, or any type of family, we should be thankful for everything that can be given to us. Many people don’t have as many opportunities as us Butler students. That’s what I got from this story, to not brag about possessions, but to use what we have to help ourselves be better individuals.