TATD Passage Analysis Chapter 1-4

The passage depicted below comes from Chapter 4 in the thief and the dogs by Naguib Mahfouz where Said has met with Rauf in his house and now is thinking to himself.

"So this is the real Rauf Ilwan, the naked reality - a partial corpse not even decently underground. The other Rauf Ilwan has gone, disappeared, like yesterday, like the first day in the history of man - like Nabawiyya's love or Ilish's loyalty I must not be deceived by appearances. His kind words are cunning, his smiles no more than a curl of the lips, his generosity a defensive flick of the fingers, and only a sense of guilt moved him to let me cross the threshold of his house. You made me and now you reject me: Your ideas create their embodiment in my person and then you simply change them, leaving me lost - rootless, worthless, without hope - a betrayal so vile that if the whole Muqattam hill toppled over and buried it, I still would not be satisfied. 
I wonder if you ever admit, even to yourself, that you betrayed me. Maybe you've deceicved yourself as much as you try to deceive others. Hasn't your conscience bothered you even in the dark? I wish I could penetrate your soul as easily as I've penetrated your house, that house of mirrors and objects d'art, but I suppose I'd find nothing but betrayal there: Nabawiyya disguised as Rauf, Rauf disguised as Nabawiyya, or Ilish Sidra in place of both - and betrayal would cry out to me that it was the lowest crime on earth. Their eyes behind my back must have traded anxious looks throbbing with lust, which carried them in a current crawling like death, like a cat creeping on its belly toward a bewildered sparrow. When their chance came, the last remnants of decency and indecision disappeared, so that in a corner of the lane, even in my own house, Ilish Sidra finally said, "I'll tell the police. We'll get rid of him," and the child's mother was silent - the tongue that so often and so profusely told me, "I love you, the best man in the world," was silent. And I found myself surrounded by police in Al-Sayrafi Lane - though until then demons themselves with all their wiles hand failed to trap me - their kicks and punches raining down on me. 
You're just the same, Rauf - I don't know which of you is the most treacherous - except that your guilt is greater because of your intelligence and the past association between us: You pushed me into jail, while you leapt free, into that palace of lights and mirrors. You've forgotten your wise sayings about palaces and hovels, haven't you? I will never forget. 


Analysis

After the introduction in Chapter 3 to Rauf Ilwan and we learn about the past relationship between Said and Rauf, but we also learn that Rauf has changed from his old rebellious personality into the thing that he and Said despised. the rich which the reader understands through Said's words. This passage is a stream of consciousness in Said's mind after the meeting with Rauf where he finds Rauf treacherous due his change in personality as well as ideology which to Said is worthless, rootless and without hope. In this passage the reader can see how enraged Said is because of all the people that have betrayed him. Especially Rauf where he was characterized as Said's mentor and a person whom Said was very fond of but Said in his mind believes that Rauf was the one who send him to prison with all the ideologies he taught him while Rauf swindled away to the rich society. In this passage Said is characterized as vengeful as well as hurt, because while he is enraged by the fact that not only Ilish and Nabawiyya betrayed him, now his mentor Rauf has basically not want anything to do with Said, the same person who taught Said everything. To the reader this state of Said makes them sympathetic of Said because not only he lost his child and wife but now his old friend has betrayed him leaving him truly alone against the world. But the sympathy part fades when Said states that he will never forget, meaning that he will raise hell or high water to repay the deeds that were acted upon him by the dogs that betrayed him. This is the beginning of his hubris against Rauf where he plans to get back at the people who betrayed him, especially Rauf whom in Said's mind is the most important person to get back at due to his past association with Said.

TATD Narrative Style Analysis

Naguib Mahfouz utilizes the stream of consciousness to provide a foundation for the events in Said's life after prison. It means a literary style in which a character's thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in a continuous flow uninterrupted by objective description or conventional dialogue. Furthermore through Said's consciousness we are given glimpses of his past, most of which comes in the form of evoked reminiscences in order to humanize Said and allow the readers of the novel to be able to at least understand the reason behind the actions that Said has decided to fulfil in order to repay his "debts". These reminiscences and flashbacks are not arranged chronologically. Moreover the narrative style that Mahfouz used in the Thief and the Dogs was more modernized in terms of character, theme and structure. His narrative was seen as breaking away from the more panoramic narration and old meticulous details. In addition through Said's stream of consciousness. Mahfouz at that time was suffering from a everlasting sense that he was being pursued, and in addition that he believed that under the political order after the Egyptian Revolution their lives were forfeit and had no meaning, For that reason when Mahfouz wrote the Thief and the Dogs, he was putting some of his own life story in the novel. The stream of consciousness is used in flashbacks of Said's life in order to show more about his past and to build up the conflict and tension while also to slow down the very fast development of the novel. For example, Mahfouz used the Stream of Consciousness in Chapter 10 where Said reminisces about Sana who is his daughter rejecting him after his release from prison as well as the faces in his ex-wife Nabiwiyya and Ilish which makes the reader sympathetic to the cause of revenge that Said has embarked on. This flashback humanizes Said and shows how hurt he feels from the betrayals of Ilish, Nabiwiyya and Rauf who for Said personally was considered and older brother and an idol. Overall Naguib Mahfouz by introducing the stream of consciousness portrays how Said as a protagonist is thinking about the people whom he loves and he hated while also most importantly giving the reader an understanding about how Said thinks and manages his inner and outer conflicts which are his demons.

Extension.


Naguib Mahfouz novel the thief and the dogs shares similarities with Chinua Achebe novel Things fall apart such as the protagonists feeling entraped and that everyone is against them. Also the plot and the significance of both novels culturally are extremely important not only to respective cultures but are recognized worldwide. Differences include the Stream of Consciousness used by Mahfouz in order to show the thought process of Said while Achebe uses a third omniscient narrator to show the full image of the novel.