Stream of Consciousness Narration

The Thief and The Dogs was written by Naguib Mahfouz and is a novel which portrays his attitude towards the Egyptian revolution. The novel was published 9 years after the Egyptian revolution in 1961. The Egyptian revolution was the attempt to free the Egyptians from British control, which succeeded. By writing this novel, Mahfouz conveys his thoughts and feeling towards the revolution to the readers. In the novel, the main character, Said Mahran, is portrayed as a thief who just got out of jail after 4 years, and returns to the normal world in which he realises that his wife betrayed him and is not together with a former underling of Said. Additionally, the character Rauf Ilwan has completely changed and has now turned into a rich person, someone who Said and Rauf would have stolen from before the revolution when Rauf and Said were friends. In the novel, Said represents the people who do not agree with the changes that resulted from the revolution, and Rauf represents the people who took advantage of the revolution and have therefore completely changed. In order to exaggerate and further convey this to the reader, Mahfouz utilises the technique of stream of consciousness. 

The literary style stream of consciousness is used by writers in order to reveal the thoughts and feelings of a character to the reader in a continuous flow which is uninterrupted by things such as dialogue. In the novel, a stream of consciousness is used multiple times in order to reveal the thoughts and feelings of Said Mahran to the reader. Due to the use of a stream of consciousness, the reader is able to see the thoughts of a character and their thought process, which without a stream of consciousness would not be possible. Additionally, a stream of consciousness is often utilised by authors as a way of regulating the distance between the reader and the character. 

Mahfouz uses the shift of narration in order to create complexity in the character of Said Mahran and in order to regulate the distance between the characters in the noel and the reader. The distance between the characters and the reader is intentionally regulated by the author in order to convey the intended messages and feelings of the novel, and therefore of the Egyptian revolution, to the reader. A instance of this occurs in chapter 1, “when those who had betrayed him would despair unto death, when treachery would pay for what it had done. Nabawiyya, Ilish. Your two names merge in my mind.” This quote shows the shift from a third person narrative to a direct narrative. In this example, the shift in narration causes a shift in the information which the reader receives. In the third person perspective, more information is censored, where as when it shifts to a direct narrative, the reader gains insights into the mind of the protagonist which reveals his thoughts and feelings.

By using a stream of consciousness, there are several advantages and disadvantages. An advantage of Mahfouz utilising this literary style is that is enables him to regulate the distance between the reader and the character. Additionally, it also creates complexity in the characters of the novel. However, by utilising a stream of consciousness it also creates disadvantages such as creating confusion in the reader. This is especially the case when reading the novel as a pdf version as in the pdf version the instances of stream of consciousness are not italicised.