Stream of Conciousness narration in The Thief and the Dogs

The stream of consciousness presented in the Thief and the Dogs is a consistent narration style. In western literature, this is nothing new. However, it was a pioneering element in Arabic literature. Naguib Mahfouz incorporates this style into his character Said Mahran, revealing his inner motivations and thoughts that allow readers to understand his need for revenge. This style relates to psychological realism, when the narration of the story probes the complexity of human behavior. This was written during the time of the Egyptian revolution, many of civilians were displeased with their iconic figure turning on them, so much that they had felt betrayed. Said Mahran's thoughts of betrayal was meant to reflect the betrayal the Egyptian people felt when Gamal Abdul Nasser had begun going back on his word.

Said is troubled by his past and his past relationships. We learn how he thinks and parts of his past through dialogue and action, but most importantly by thought. Readers are able to read the story entirely from Said’s perspective because of this, getting into the head of a betrayed thief. We learn that Said is plagued by negativity, living in his own self-righteousness and goaded himself into a path of revenge because of this. We are able to read the trend of psychological fiction, by more than just observing his self-claimed acts of righteousness but witnessing how he came to his conclusions and why. Chapter ten revealed a lot of his past, as he had reminisced about it in hiding. He thought of how he had met Nabawiyya, clueing the readers into how his relationship with her and their daughter had effected him.

The first chapter takes no time at all to introduce the concept of stream of consciousness. We read Said's thoughts and he's immediately boasting himself and his previous relations to Illish Sidra and his ex-wife Nabawiyya. He begins as a confident, vain-ridden man fresh out of prison and within the course of a week his mind is deteriorating with vengeance for his time spent locked away. By chapter ten, Said completely denounces Rauf Ilwan, Illish Sidra and Nabawiyya as living beings. As he peers out into the graveyard he now considers them dead to him, yet he still holds on to his dear daughter Sana. We are able to read in his thoughts that he is desperate for redemption in his daughters eyes, which is consistent throughout the chapters. Much of Said's personality is revealed through stream of consciousness, we are able to tell when he is genuine or whether he is lying or apathetic. For example, in chapter two when Said seeks shelter he stays at a mosque with a sheikh; He speaks to him with great respect of authority, yet his thoughts reveal that he is only acting this way because he has no place else to go to.

We're able to distinguish between the actual writing and Said's thoughts with the use of italics. In other cases, it is used to emphasize words or statements, however in the novel it is consistently used to translate Said's thoughts into plain words. Not only does this allow for a clear distinction, but for Arabic readers at the time it was a first for Arab fiction. Thoughts are either taken a whole paragraph on it's own or the latter part of a paragraph, seen consistently in all chapters. This helps the flow of the novel, so instead of Said's thoughts being scattered through paragraphs, time is then taken to ensure the reader registers the action before they can get to reading Said Mahran's thoughts about it.