Analysis of a Passage From the Thief and the Dogs

An important passage that helps in the development of Said Mahran's complex character is one found in Chapter 12, pg 112. This passage describes the nature of Said's relationship with Rauf, who he once considered his mentor, in the early years when Said started his career as a thief.

This passage demonstrates the shift in Said's feelings from gratitude to revenge towards Rauf as he states, 'To you alone goes the credit...' which shows a relationship akin to a mentor and its disciple/students even though Rauf treated Said as his equal as seen in the text, '...as if I were your equal.' The phrase 'as if' also implies that Said didn't see himself equal to Rauf back then but now, the period which the text is written in, Said sees himself as almost above everyone which shows the shift in his behaviour and his new built self- righteousness could be used as a reason to justify his 'insanity.' Through the use of animal imagery by using the phrase, 'You'd roar with delighted laughter at my success,' Said established his previous perspective of Rauf as someone grand and important as the lion is usually at the top of any animal hierarchy.

This text uses the writing style of a soliloquy and this is effective because soliloquies are very direct and personal to the person being directed to, in this case Rauf, which brings out immense emotions. Mahfouz employs this style by using repetition of the word you such as, ‘To you alone,’ ‘Do you see now,’ and ‘You taught me to love,’ where it seems as if the Said is almost cornering Rauf. His repetition of this word almost seems disrespectful as in many languages, including Arabic, being very direct isn’t considered respectful so by keeping the context of the language this text was originally written in, it could be said that even though Said is praising who Rauf was, he is doing it in a disrespectful manner.

The soliloquy portrays a sense of belonging that Said enjoyed under the mentorship and he portrays this belonging through the use of his diction. In one instance he says ‘you protected me the first time I stole,’ and the word protected is very powerful here as it contrasts with Said’s current situation where he has no one who supports him and even if he has Nur as a ‘support,’ this contrast shows his initial disregard and unimportance of her willingness to be there for Said.  

Word count: 412

Why does Mahfouz employ stream of consciousness narration in the novel and to what effect?

Naguib Mahfouz, the author of the novel The Thief and the Dogs (TTATD), uses the style of realism combined with stream of consciousness narration in his novel. This combination shows how Mahfouz steps away from the conventions of a single type of genre.

Mahfouz's purpose of stepping away from the conventions of any particular genre was to craft a novel that incorporates multiple windows from which a person thinks ranging from soliloquies, to direct monologue and finally to indirect monologue. A soliloquy is very direct and is generally used to expresses strong emotions and an example from TTATD would be Chapter 1 when the story talks about his ex wife and his ex best friend Ilish as they both betrayed him when he was in jail by getting married and therefore it is understandable for him to have immense feelings towards it. Furthermore, I believe this novel has its soliloquies concentrated in the beginning and at the end of this novel as the beginning is when the audience is introduced to Said’s strong emotions and the end is when the audience sees the ending of Said’s emotions and how his insanity essentially reaches its ‘climax’ by the end.

 The difference between direct inner monologue and indirect inner monologue is analogous to that of talking to someone about an issue versus eavesdropping and hearing someone else about that same subject respectively. I believe that there are many instances when Said talks to the sheikh where multiple shifts between direct and indirect inner monologue is present. This is done in order to show immediate contrasts between what Said thinks the Sheikh thinks of him (direct inner monologue) which is negative, versus the nonchalance the Sheikh displays towards Said (indirect inner monologue) which essentially shows the ‘non- judgmental’ characterization of the Sheikh in this novel.

The last style of narration this novel integrates is third person narration. This style of narration is highly effective in summing up scenes so in TTATD, this style is generally used at the end of introducing or exploring an important event. This allows the reader to comprehend the novel from the narration styles mentioned above before being told what is happening. When the audience is immediately told what the scene is about through third person narration, it restricts the readers from independently formulating heir own ideas and exploring the setting and characterization individually therefore, I believe that this particular way of using third person narration is useful as it allows the readers to be independent and eventually the thoughts of the readers gets closure through clarification (third person narration) at the end of important scenes and events.

Along with the advantages mentioned above of Mahfouz’s techniques, there are still a few limitations to his style of writing and appreciation of language. Firstly, this is a translated book so many of the proverbs, idioms and phrases may lose their effect to some particular readers. I believe that the loss of this affect is mainly applicable to solely English- language speakers. People who speak other languages, especially Arabic since this book is translated from Arabic, which have the use of ‘fluffy’ phrases incorporated in them will have an upper hand in terms of comprehending it through the appreciation of a language in which ‘beating around the bush’ is considered an art. This style of language is also seen in Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe and even though the book was written in English, Achebe wasn’t just an English speaker, he also spoke language/s native to his homeland which allowed him to fuse the art of his language into English. In English itself, the art of language through proverbs and idioms is only heard in the aristocratic class and otherwise, the usage of language in this particular way is seen as being indirect which has a condescending implication to it and this is why I believe that solely- English speaking readers will lack the ability to appreciate different styles of language being merged into the language of English as that is the only way (the way of English language) they know of. On the other hand, it could also be that only English- language speakers may have an exaggerated appreciation for Mahfouz’s style of language because it is something ‘new’ and ‘different;’ however, either way they both lead to an inaccurate appreciation of Mahfouz’s language. This is debatable as it is hard to define what an ‘accurate’ extent of appreciation of language is.

Word count: 744

Value of Literature in Translation

The purpose of reading translated texts is to convey stories from different parts of the world and make oneself aware of varying literature. There are many arguments for and against the translation of texts however one point most people can agree on is that the person translating is in position of power; they have the power to portray an image of a culture through the translated so it is their responsibility to do it in the most accurate way possible. How the audience decides to perceive the translation is a different story but as long as the translator believes that they incorporated the context and the cultural values of the language it is being translated from, then the process of translation has been done right in my opinion. 

The main challenges present while translating a text are comprehension the context of the text in one language and finding the right the phrases with the intended connotation in the other language. Many words can be translated directly from one language to another however connotation varies depending on the culture of the language. For example, the book The Thief and the Dogs is translated from Arabic and the word 'dog' has a far worse connotation to it in Arabic then it does in English. This example demonstrates the value of connotation in literature and in order to overcome this challenge I believe the audience will need to develop an awareness of the culture of the language the book has been translated from in order to preserve the value of literature because there is no way the translator can bring about the connotations from one culture to the other. 

Furthermore, I agree with the fact that more books need to be translated into English. Even though English isn’t the most common language in the world, it is the most widely spread out language geographically speaking and it is the language, which has the most growth in the number of people learning it. Since there are many people who speak English from various cultures, I believe that it is important for the stories from their cultural backgrounds to be brought in the forefront in order to make the native English speakers have a better understanding of the new people from different cultures integrating into their language. This mutual understanding will increase empathy between different cultures and decrease misunderstandings.

Word count: 394