Stream of Consciousness

It is by means of realism and stream of consciousness that Naguib Mahfouz brings to life the many characters of ‘The Thief and the Dogs,’ especially his narrative’s fiery protagonist, Said Mahran. An antihero by any account, Said sets himself apart from the throng of Robin Hood-esque characters who have gone before him in that he driven by personal gain and vendetta.

As per the conventions of his time, Mahfouz makes full use of the psychological instability that surrounds the actions and life philosophy of the everyday person. From the very moment we meet Said, outside the prison walls, we the reader are placed front stage and center to the war raging within him, and while Said might be able to fool those he is around, his innermost thoughts lay bear his true intentions.

It is this psychological projection of the character that allows for the fusing of the traditional hero and villain moniker. The heroism of Said’s character is steadily undermined as the reader gains further exposure to the extent to which is willing to go, so as to exact his revenge. This sentiment reaches a climax when Said attempts the murder of his former mentor, only to kill an innocent bystander, so that by the end of the novel Said no longer remains the black and white hero he once was.

And this sentiment ties into the notion of duality that is so heavily imbibed into the novel. Be it the manner in which all the people in Said’s life change, appearing one way only to turn out another, or the manner in which Said masks his ill will, under the false pretense of manner and decorum, duality serves as a defying characteristic of Mahfouz’s narrative style and the means by which he a fleshes out his characters.

With that in mind another merit of Mahfouz’s narrative style, is that as these moments the narrator all but disappears, as the reader submerges themself into the character’s thought and emotion. As any person in the real world could attest to, interior monologue allows for the laying down of all private ideas and feeling. The way a character thinks provides clues to their mental condition and emotional stability, and only by harnessing theses is an author able to deliver on an immersive and authentic literary experience. 

Drawing upon a specific instance from the novel’s first chapter, one might also note how access to Said’s internal experiences enhances the reader’s understanding of his external reality.

In the novel’s first chapter Said thinks of his daughter Sana: “I wonder how much the little one even knows about her father? Nothing, I suppose. No more than this road does, these passersby or this molten air.”

An experienced robber, Said would have been accustomed to the unknown and unexpected yet; he is ultimately unprepared for the child’s refusal of his affection. Moments later he second-guesses himself, “Doesn’t she know how much I love her?” Having born witness to Said’s nervous anticipation and his eventual reaction to Sana’s rejection the reader is provided with all the clues as to how Said will react to challenges he faces later on in the narrative.

Through stream of consciousness writing and internal monologue, the reader is able to attest to Said’s struggle to control his circumstance. As his all consuming drive for revenge carries him closer to self-destruction, his thoughts become increasingly radical, his emotions increasingly volatile.

For all the merits of stream of consciousness, one might argue that it deprives the reader of a holistic understanding of the novel. Privy to only the thoughts of Said, readers are unable to gage events in an object manner, from the perspective of characters such as Nabawiyya or Rauf, who would have had entirely different insights to that of Said, regarding the narrative’s events. What’s more tying this into Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart,’ one can see note Achebe’s usage of differing perspectives, presented a far more impartial view on proceedings, allowing his the readers to reach their own conclusions- possessing all the facts, both good and bad- regarding the narrative’s progression and the parties involved.