Allegory is a genre of writing in which the narrative as a whole symbolizes an otherwise unstated moral or concept. Although allegory is typically coherent when read at face value, most if not all of its characters and events are stand-ins for figures and ideas that, when taken together, also constitute a cohesive narrative. In many cases, allegory is a means for an author to make a complex philosophical or religious point more accessible.

“Half a Day” is a strongly allegorical work in the sense that nearly every element within it is symbolic. Somewhat unusually, however, these correspondences aren’t one-to-one: “Half a Day” can be read as an allegory for several distinct ideas, including the brevity of human life, the relationship of humanity to God, and the social and economic changes Egypt experienced over the course of the 20th century. In other words, while a given element of the story might be more significant in one interpretation than in another, all are nevertheless compatible with multiple different readings. The gardens near the narrator’s childhood home are a good example of this; although first and foremost a symbol of paradise in the religious sense, they also evoke the idyllic state of early childhood, as well as Egypt’s preindustrial past.