Sheikhs Al-Junaydi's Character in The Thief and the Dogs.

In the Thief and the Dogs Sheikh al Junaydi is the one person that is constantly trying to persuade Said to wash himself of his sins and change the whole nature of his character altogether. The main influence that the Sheikh has on Said is that, although Said may not have listened to him completely, the only thoughts that Said had throughout the story to better himself and become a nicer more religious person was due to the advice and words of the Sheikh.
Sheikh Junaydi also acts as a soother for Said throughout the Thief and the Dogs. When he is turned away by his wife, and best friend, and when he has killed someone and become a threat the society around him, Sheikh Junaydi takes him in, comforts him and gives him shelter and food. This could have him being the "hero" in the Thief and the dogs. Sheikh Junaydi is a constant reminder to Said and to the reader that there was another possible path that he could have taken that did not involve violence or anyone getting hurt, and every time that Said went to the sheikh he was offered this path, in fact he was encouraged to take that path. The sheikh also took part in a lot of the characterization of Said Mahran, and he did this by bringing out his flaws to the reader and continuing to show the dark side of Said.
Although Sheikh was able to see all along that Said was earning for a better life and to be a better man, sheikh junaydi also knew that it wasn't going to happen directly because of his quest for revenge on those who had done him wrong in the past. Without this revenge Said mahran wouldn't stop at anything to get it. The overarching theme of fate vs free will is very much so implemented in the character of Sheikh Junaydi as you see directly by their first meeting in the story when Said has just left prison and is given the option by Sheikh for the new path he is able to take, the one that isnt hate filled and revenge seeking, that is his free will option but he chooses his own fate by going after Illish and Nabawilla to get his revenge, which would eventually be the death of him. 

Thesis

Naguib Mahfouz uses Said's character as a representation of the arising violent conflict in Egypt at the time. 

Chapter 17 Analysis - The Thief and the Dogs

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In chapter 17, Said arrives at the Sheikhs house, seeking refuge, only to realise that he left his uniform in Nur's house. He also realises that the police are closing in on his whereabouts. He is scared because the uniform that has been left at Nur's house will have traces of him, and will therefore lead the police straight to Said. This chapter as a whole is a sign of Said's stupid decisions finally coming back to haunt him as he will soon be captured. In chapter 17 for the first time really Said is beginning to be seen as helpless and close to giving up. He has still not taken any responsibility for his actions and continues to blame other people and talk endlessly about revenge on Illish and Nabawiyya, however.  The theme of the passage that is a constant throughout the story is fate. Said is constantly running and hiding throughout the story and was always bound to be caught up with, in this passage you see the police and everything that Said has done wrong eventually catching up to him. Said also knows it and that is the reason that he is becoming so helpless and weak. The conversation with the Sheikh that Said found tough and annoying also played a part in pushing Said over the edge. 

Questions From Class.

What is Said's Tragic Flaw?

Said's tragic flaw is that he is un able to forgive people who have wronged him in the past. This comes along with his need for revenge over people who have done him wrong. You see this in the text with the Nabbawiyya and Illish situation, when he returns to his normal life outside of jail, only to find his best friend had taken his life. He was never able to accept this as reality and that is an example of his tragic flaw. 

How does he display excessive pride? 

You see the excessive pride of Said throughout the story in a couple of different instances. One of these is the moment when Said is at the sheikhs house seeking refuge, but when asked about the police and his situation, but instead of admitting he was arrested for his wrongdoings and such, he says that it wasn't of any sweat off the police's forehead. This is Said blaming the person that threw him under the bus instead of just admitting that he had broken the law either way. 

When is his Reversal of Fortune? 

The reversal of Said's fortune ended up being the beginning of his downfall in the Thief and the Dogs. The reversal of Said's fortune is when he goes out aiming to kill and get revenge on Illish but instead kills and innocent man. This is the exact moment that his fortune changes and his downfall begins. 

At what moment in the text does Said realize the downfall was caused by his own actions?

This is the one hero's trait that Said does not seem to actually have. Although most heros become aware towards the end of the story that they were in the wrong all along ect. However with Said, he never loses his excessive pride and until death, continues making excuses for himself and blaming others. 

Is his Fate greater than he deserved?

Although Said was wronged by the loved ones in his life, and may have been going through a hard time, I don't believe that Said's fate was more than he deserve. This is because Said was fairly aware of what path he was leading himself down, fuelled by revenge, but he didn't let that stop him travelling down it. 

Stream of consciousness Narrative in the Thief and the Dogs.

Stream of consciousness Narrative in the Thief and the Dogs.

The stream of consciousness is a successful technique that Mahfouz uses to bring to life many of the characters of the thief and the dogs, but most directly the protagonist Said. Particularly in the first chapter where Mahfouz is able to constantly switch from first to second person and use the stream of consciousness to develop Said as a character individually. As the story goes on you learn more and more about Said, from his stream of consciousness and his personal thoughts and memories. This allows you to get the direct truth behind what actually happened before prison and what is currently happening inside Said's head. All of the different techniques used allow the reader to feel some sort of connection with Said as you feel although you have lived through his experiences with him. This also allows the depth of the character to be far deeper than what it would have been prior.

When you begin the novel you automatically see Said as being a man that is filled with hatred and anger, you however do not see the truth behind his anger and why he is actually feeling the way he is and saying the things that he is saying. Although this can be an extremely successful technique, it can also be a slight limitation due to the fact that your ideas on the character can become extremely skewed due to the fact that most of your perceptions of the storyline comes from the personal thoughts and feelings of the protagonist, Said.  The reader is never allowed or given any opportunity to experience the story from any other percspective than Said's and thats why it can be seen as a massive limitation too.

Value of Literature in Translation

Many of the top novels written can be translated to nearly any, commonly used language. This means that as a result of Translation of literature we are able to experience the viewpoints and expression of ideas of any author. However a very significant problem that comes along with the translation of literature is the very clear language barrier that may be faced in the process. Although single words and phrases can be translated and understood most of the time very easily, metaphors and other literary techniques may be unique to the language it is written in and therefore becomes unavailable to be translated and understood by the reader.

The translation of the texts is a huge advantage to anybody interested in the world because it allows us to truly understand the culture, thoughts and feelings of people in different countries speaking different languages. This is also vital to knowing key facts and information about history, as back many years ago things were only able to be written down and therefore without the translation of literature being possible there would be many things that we wouldn't be aware of. Although this is not an example from history that was key to man kind finding out things about the past life, a very good example of literature in translation is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This was written by Stieg Larsson, a Swedish novelist, in 2005. This book was translated to 15 different languages became a best seller in europe, but even more impressively in the United States. This would not have been possible without the power of literature in translation, and this is only one example of many times that a novel has been translated to a different language and become a best seller in that country. 

This is key for our unit as well, as we are reading Thief and the Dogs which is an originally arabic written novel, was translated into not only English but many other languages too, and won awards. This novel has also been able to be studied in the english language now which really shows the quality of the story.