A Silent Song and Other Stores essay: A Man of Awesome Powers
In today's society, some people with power end up abusing it " Drawing illustrations from Naquib Mahfouz's A Man of Awesome Powers, justify the above statement.
Introduction
Many people who are in powerful positions or who have been gifted with some sort of power tend to abuse it - Instead of utilizing it for the improvement of society at large, they use it for their own selfish interests or to punish those who have wronged them. Such a scenario is seen in A Man of Awesome Power through a number of illustrations:
Body
We see Tayyib-Mahdi utilizing the power given to him for revenge. This Is not a good way of power utilization as it causes harm to others. Tayyib realizes that he has the power to order things to be and he sets out to utilize the power to change his country. However, the first episode where he utilizes this power shows that he is utilizing it to hit back a person who offends him. The driver of the taxi that he hails suffers his wrath for refusing to stop. He stares at the rear wheels of the taxi till the tyres burst. By utilizing his power to hit back at the taxi driver, Tayyib shows that people with power use it for the wrong purposes.
We further see the wrong utilization of power where Tayyib makes the man in the bus to suffer stomach pains. Allowing his anger to control him and causing pain to the man who had slapped a woman is a vengeful act and shows how people with power use it for wrong purposes.
Tayyib uses his power bestowed on him to interfere with the radio presentation by causing the presenter to Start sneezing while seated in the cafe " he hears a radio announcer expounding the developments that were to be expected in the future- Tayyib feels that the announcer should report on what has been achieved yet Instead of giving false hopes to the people Tayyib thus decides to cause a sneezing attack on the announcer since it was only way to stop him. Soon after the announcer develops massive sneezes that prevent him from carrying on with the presentation. Tayyib feels happy and victorious after the unexpected conclusion of the announcement. Although his desire is to purify the broadcasting sector, the approach of causing massive sneezing to the presenter is harmful and thus wrong-
Lastly, Tayyib is seen to use the power given to him to satisfy his sexual passion and desires. Tayyib utilizes the power to make a woman that he is attracted to notice him. While he is Seated at the tea garden planning how to effectively use his power, Tayyb notices a beautiful woman approaching the entrance of the garden. The woman does not notice him at first and Tayyib thinks how through his powers he can cause her to be head-over-heels in love with him. He then sends her a hidden message and she responds to him. He sees nothing wrong with satisfying his desires. He closes his notebook and they surrender to fate; This Is an Immoral act since Tayyib is married to Haniya whom he had remained faithful to throughout their marriage.
Conclusion
People gifted with powers should strive to use it only for good purposes and not to cause pain and suffering to others or for Immoral deeds like Tayyib did.