The Beginning and the End by Naguib Mahfouz is a poignant social realist novel set in post-war Cairo. It meticulously chronicles the disintegration of a middle-class Egyptian family after the sudden death of their patriarch. Left with nothing, the widowed mother and her four adult children struggle desperately against poverty and societal pressures. Each family member, driven by a mix of love, pride, and despair, makes increasingly desperate choices that lead to tragic consequences. Mahfouz masterfully explores themes of sacrifice, moral compromise, class struggle, and the corrosive effects of destitution on human dignity, culminating in a devastating portrayal of human suffering and societal decline.