This chapter continues to take place in the urban setting of Cairo. Early in the chapter Said stops to take note of his surroundings and reveals that “Through the open door and out the big window opposite you could see the wasteland stretching into the distance, its thick darkness unrelieved by a single glimmer of light.” (P.189). This is the first and only reference in the chapter to the general setting, but it is sufficient enough to indicate that they are in a city. More specifically though, the majority of the chapter takes place within a café that Said describes as a “ round room with its brass fittings, the wooden chairs with their straw seats” (P. 189) where those in it engage in various middle-eastern cutoms such as sipping tea and smoking water pipes.
Sense of Place
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