Stream of consciousness

The stream of consciousness style of narration has many impacts on a piece of text leading to impact the plot to be less engaging due to it being written in third person.Hence, less emphasis is shown in the structure of the literary work as the focus of the text would be unwinding the main characters thoughts and beliefs along with developing his psyche.As a result in could be noted that there is a contrast between the standard conventions of writing and the stream of consciousness narration. when taking a look at a text it could be noted that bias could be evident as the reader is only exposed with only one perspective rather than multiple ones.leading readers to formulate judgments based on information transferred from the main character. However, this technique leads to destroy common archetypes found in literature as when you get to know the main character in depth it becomes difficult to classify id they have a good will or are “evil”.

When taking a look at Naguib Mahfouz's novel The Thief and the Dogs the main character is driven by his emotions and sense of betrayal to his downfall.However in the novel we have access to Said Maharan’s main thoughts and emotions the reader is more than capable of establishing a link with him and starts to feel empathetic towards him.

In The Thief and the Dogs, Mahfouz joins the concept of realism and stream of consciousness together. The aim of this blog post is to explore and examine the reasons behind the use of the stream of consciousness narrative technique. As the purpose behind Mahfouz’s writing is to shape his beliefs and ideologies, the novel was written on the anniversary of the Egyptian revolution in which the revolution overthrew the Nasser regime.When taking a look at the impact caused by the government being overthrown the individuals had suffered from censorship and even punished when speaking against government. The stream of consciousness which was introduced for the first time to arabic literature by Mahfouz portrays how civilians coped with life after the revolution.As there are people who became bureaucrats like Rauf Ilwan,who left their dignity and ideals for wealth or stand up and be rebellious and fight for their rights. Mahran's grisly fate may be Mahfouz's hidden message of what happens to dissidents. As mentioned previously when accessing the protagonists mind a link is established making the reader be empathetic towards him.

Taking a look at the novel from the start different stylistic features presented that vary form direct and indirect internal monologue, third person narration, and a soliloquy is present. However, each technique has a purpose to be served as the novel begins with an indirect interior monologue.

"Once more he breathed the air of freedom. But there was stifling dust in the air, almost unbearable heat, and no one was waiting for him; nothing but his blue suit and gym shoes.” 

Along with that as mentioned previously direct monologue is found in chapter nine 

"You might perhaps be thinking you've got rid of me forever now, Rauf! But with this revolver, if I have any luck, I can do wonderful things. With this revolver, I can awaken those who are asleep.” 

The techniques used are used to make events more intimate as it shows and represent allow in the characters beliefs and ideologies leading to have an impact on the audience.This type of narration may lead to greater empathy from the reader for Said Mahran.

Lastly, Said frequently gives soliloquies. The nuanced difference between this and the direct interior monologue is that a soliloquy carries the assumption of an audience and no narrator. (A narrator may sometimes be present in direct narration, and no audience thought to be is present). An example can be found in Chapter 11.

last but not least the novel also explores soliloquies in which the reader is required to create assumption without have narrated events as in which an example of a soliloquy is found in chapter 11

"Where have all your principles gone now, Rauf? Dead, no doubt, like my father and my mother, and like my wife's fidelity...All those graves out there, immersed in the gloom, don't jeer at my memories!"  

On the whole, Mahfouz accomplishes political objectives, establishes strong ties between the reader and the protagonist, and paints a complex portrait of the haunted thief Said Mahran. The stream of consciousness narrative technique is one of the many tools he used to portray such ideologies.