The Thief and The Dogs | Stream of Consciousness Narration

Prompt: How and to what effect does Mahfouz employ stream of consciousness narration in the novel?

‘Stream of consciousness’ is a narrative technique which aims to depict a multitudinous flow of a character’s impressions –visual, emotional, physical, subliminal—to form part of one’s awareness and consciousness. Through this technique, readers are immersed in the sensation and uncensored thought of a character’s mind. Often, authors choose to use this technique through interior monologue, in which the character’s thoughts and emotions take over the narrator.  

The use of the stream of consciousness technique is evident in the psychological realism novel, The Thief and The Dogs. Mahfouz broke away from panoramic narration and combines realism and stream of consciousness narration. Specifically, Mahfouz uses interior monologue to probe deeply into the complexities of Said’s thoughts and motivations, while simultaneously giving clues to his mental condition, emotional stability and intellect. By doing so, Mahfouz characterises Said Mahran’s external reality and his feelings of rage, revenge and betrayal.

Throughout the novel, Mahfouz switches between third person-omniscient narration and the interior monologue of Said. This invites the reader to comprehend Said’s struggle to control his circumstances. For example, when Said is released from prison he describes himself as “a man who can dive like a fish, fly like a hawk, scale walls like a rat, pierce solid doors like a bullet!” (pg. 14). Such use of animal imagery to describe his animalistic nature is also evident when he infiltrates Rauf’s house; “like a cat creeping on its belly toward a bewildered sparrow” (pg. 48). The use of animal imagery in suggests that Said’s behaviour is barbaric; characteristics which are incompetent with new social changes in Cairo. In addition, the narration allows the reader to sympathize with Mahran and understand his emotions to explain his barbaric actions: “You made me, and now you reject me… I wonder if you ever admit, even to yourself, that you betrayed me… You pushed me into jail, while you leapt free… I will never forget” (pg. 47-48).

As the novel progresses, Said’s desire for revenge cause his thoughts to become less rational, and his emotions increasingly volatile. Subsequently, Said’s narration and description of secondary characters become subjective and biased. The reader is now continuously urged to engage more with the novel in order to make meaning of the situation. This is evident in Said’s perception of being an excellent thief: “You’ll get away without a scratch, just as easily as you have scores of times: you can scale an apartment building in seconds, jump unhurt from a third-floor window—even fly if you wish!”. Such heroic and competent characterization stands in stark contrast with Said’s failure to rob Rauf’s house, his murder on two innocent people and ultimately his downfall. It is also interesting to notice how the combination of both omniscient third-person narration and stream of consciousness narration characterizes Mahran’s contrasting perspective of justice and revenge.

In an interview with the Paris Review, Mahfouz stated: “A simple crime tale became a philosophical meditation on the times! I subjected the main character, Sayyid Mahran, to all my confusion, my perplexities.”. This context of production suggests that Mahfouz wanted to highlight the confusion he experienced during the post-revolution period in Egypt. In order to illustrate his perplexities to the reader, the stream of consciousness allows the reader to experience confusion due to the duality in reality and Said’s emotional thoughts and associations.

In comparison to Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, both authors have used third-person omniscient narration. However, as opposed to Mahfouz’s stream of consciousness narration, Achebe presents each character’s private thoughts and emotions through the third-person narration. He achieves this by shifting the narration between characters; the novel begins with Okonkwo, thought of Ikemefuna, Nwoye and the District Commissioner in the closing statement. This serves his purpose and mission of delivering a plot with duality; various emotions, multiple perspectives, reactions. Achebe wants to illuminate the danger of the single story, and in order to achieve this, multiple approaches and characters are necessary to deliver the mentality of duality. This sense of duality is also seen in The Thief and The Dogs, however, to a lesser extent as the reader relies on Said’s comprehension of secondary characters. Instead, Mahfouz decides to focus on the duality between reality and Said’s multitudinous impressions.