Analysis

PASSAGE: Chapter 8

Cut off your tongue before it betrays you and confesses your crime! You wish to tell him everything. He probably doesn't need to be told. He may even have seen you fire the gun. And he may be able to see much more than that.

A voice outside the window hawked The Sphinx. Said got up at once, walked to the window, called the newspaper boy, handed him a small coin and returned with the paper to where he'd been sitting, forgetting all about the Sheikh, his eyes riveted to a huge black headline: "Dastardly Murder in the Citadel Quarter!" He devoured the lines beneath in a flash, not understanding anything. Was this another murder? His own picture was there and so were pictures of Nabawiyya and Ilish Sidra, but who was that bloodstained man? His own life story was staring at him, too, sensational doings blown in every direction like dust in a whirlwind--the story of a man who came out of prison to find his wife married to one of his underlings. But who was the bloodstained man? How had his bullet entered this stranger's chest? This victim was someone else, and Said was seeing him for the first time in his life. You'd better start reading again.

The same day he'd visited them with the detective and Ilish's friends, Ilish Sidra and Nabawiyya had moved out of their flat and another family had moved in, so the voice he'd heard had not been Ilish Sidra's nor had the screams been Nabawiyya's. The body was that of one Shaban Husayn, the new tenant who'd worked in a haberdashery in Sharia Muhammad Ali. Said Mahran had come to murder his wife and old friend, but had killed the new tenant instead. A neighbor testified that he'd seen Said Mahran leaving the house after the murder and that he'd shouted for the police, but that his voice had been lost in the din that had filled the entire street.

A failure. It was insane. And pointless. The rope would be after him now, while Ilish sat safe and secure. The truth was as clear as the bottom of an open tomb.

Analysis: 

This is a key passage that attributes to Said’s eventual downfall as the tragic hero of the novel. He is rightfully accused of bloodshed, with his life details in the newspaper. It is a moment of loss for Said, since he “was seeing [the victim] for the first time in his life.”, yet even before finding out he killed an innocent, he wanted to tell the Sheikh of his crime. This is evident in his thoughts at the beginning of the passage. The protagonist wants to take full responsibility for what he considered a triumph, and it is quickly taken away as he finds out he murdered someone he had never seen.

The second paragraph is littered with repetitive rhetorical questions, enforcing the idea of disbelief. “But who was the bloodstained man?” repeats over and over in Said’s head as he realizes he shot the wrong man, and he reads the paper again to properly retain the news just passed to him. As he read on, he finds out who was in place of Illish and why, as well as the fact he was identified by a neighbor; His shouting for the police was drowned by the sound of the scream he had thought was Nabawiyya. When he thought he killed Illish and he thought he had heard Nabawiyya scream, he was enjoying the moment and basking in his revenge. Now, the tables had turned and he is struck by disbelief.

The final paragraph is kept short, the first three sentences only 2-3 words to invoke the feeling of rapid thought and panic with heavy emotions attached to them, such as failure, insane and pointless. Said believed for sure that he is going to die at the hands of the government, execution being the cause, as Illish was safe, possibly foreshadowing his demise in chapter eighteen. In a way, this is also an example of his mental deterioration, as the news took a heavy toll on him he had begun repeating questions and reality had struck as “the truth was as clear as the bottom of an open tomb.” This provides the imagery of a dug up grave, possibly indicating his death at the graveyard, with a readied casket for Said.