This point both adds and subtracts from the message of the play and oth- ers like it. Osman must constantly stand up for his own dignity against the continued racial differentiations that other Egyptian characters lob at him, just as Sad Zaghlül resisted the authority of the British. But neither Osman nor the politicians of 1919 questioned the actual social hierarchies that the British had used to their advantage to solidify control. In fact, in none of the plays I examined did Osman abd al-Basit ever question the higher social rank of Egyptians or insist on his right to greater upward social mobility.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 915