The major symbol in Naguib Mahfouz's short story "Half a Day" is the school which the narrator attends. The school is symbolic of the narrator's life from childhood to old age. At first it is a foreboding place. His father calls it a factory and its structure described as a "high-walled fortress, exceedingly stern and grim." The narrator is loath to leave behind his comfortable home and the "gardens" and "extensive fields" which line the street as he travels to the school. The gardens and fields are symbolic of the narrator's childhood which spreads out in front of him full of promise and anticipation.
At school the narrator eventually overcomes his tears and begins to "face life joyfully." The word "life" spoken by the woman at the school is foreshadowing of the fact that the school is the narrator's life. He would grow and learn, make friends, fall in love and, through trials and tribulations, enjoy much of his experience. The school, however, just like life, had its ups and downs, its joys and sorrows. Once an adult, the narrator lives a life of "exertion, struggle and perseverance." Some of his classmates (and probably the narrator) even took advantage of opportunities and became successful and happy.
At the end of "half a day" of school the narrator goes back on the same street from which he arrived. The street is much changed. Instead of the wonders of the far reaching fields which originally greeted the narrator, he now faces a claustrophobic modern city full of traffic, "disturbing noises" and "hills of refuse," symbolizing the reality that his life has passed him by with a myriad of developments and changes which he never even realized were taking place around him as he busied himself with the details of his life.
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