Stream of Consciousness

Stream of Consciousness – Naguib Mahfouz

How, why, and to what effect does Mahfouz use stream-of-consciousness narration in the novel?

Mahfouz, for The Thief and Dogs, pioneered the use of “psycological realims”, and overlap between Realism and Modernism, in Arab literature. He employed the technique of stream fo consciousness to portray the story of TTAD through the protagonist, Said Mahran.  Stream of Consciousness is a literary narrative technique that is used by authors to allow access to a character’s thoughts , feelings and conscious reactions to events, in a continuous flow uninterrupted by objective description or conventional dialogue. This allowed for realistic writing which probed deeply in the complexities of characters’ thoughts and motivations.

Mahfouz uses stream of consciousness through Said Mahran through internal monologue, flashbacks, and moments in the text where the narrator disappears allowing Said’s thoughts and emotions to take over. This provides us with clues to Said’s deteriorating mental health.

Mahfouz does this to portray Said’s internal conflicts and internal thoughts and motivations for his actions. SOC is also used to further exemplify the feelings of restraint and the feelings of being cornered as the book continues. Mahfouz also employs SOC to show Said’s pass and evoke empathy with the character and almost justify the actions of Said. SOC furthers explores Said’s feelings of being pursued. Mahfouz used SOC also to show the confusions and perplexities of the Egyptian people under the new political order of the time of TTAD.

The effect this had on the audience is that it evokes empathy with Said and justifies his actions while humanizing Said. Throughout the book we don’t know the backstory of Said unless we are subjected to SOC.