Passage analysis Chapter 4- The Thief and the Dog

So this is the real Rauf Ilwan, the naked reality- a partial corpse not even decently underground. The other Rauf  Ilwan has gone, disappeared, like yesterday , like the first day in the history of man - like Nabawiyya's love or Ilish's loyalty. I must not be deceived by appearances. His kind words are cunning, his smiles no more than a curl of the lips his generosity a defensive flick of the fingers , and only a sense of guilt moved him to let me cross the threshold of his house. You made me and now you reject me. Your ideas create their embodiment in my person and then you simply change them, leaving me lost - rootless, worthless, without hope-- a betrayal so vile that if the whole Muqattam hill toppled over and buried it, I still would not be satisfied. 

I wonder if you ever admit , even to yourself, that you betrayed me. Maybe you've deceived yourself as much as you try to deceive others. Hasn't your conscience bothered you even in the dark? I wish I could penetrate your soul as easily as I've penetrated your house , that house of mirrors and objets d'art , but I suppose I'd find nothing but betrayal there: Nabawiyya disguised as Rauf , Rauf disguised as Nabawiyya , or Ilish Sidra in place of btoh - and betrayal would cry out to me that it was the lowest crime on earth. Their eyes behind my back must've traded anxious looks throbbing with lust , which carried them in a current crawling like death, like a cat creeping on its belly toward a bewildered sparrow. When their chance came, the last remnants of decency and indecision disappeared, so that in a corner of the lane , even in my own house Ilish Sidra said:" I'll tell the police. We'll get rid of him." and the child's mother was silent -- the tongue that so often and so profusely told me :"I love you, the best man in the world." was silent. And i found myself surrounded by police in Al Syrafi Lane -- though until then demons themselves with all their wiles had failed to trap me - their kicks and punches raining down on me. You're just the same Rauf - I dont know which of you is the most treacherous - except that your guilt is greater because of your intelligence and the past association between us : you pushed me into jail , while you leapt free, into that palace of lights and mirrors. You've forgotten your wise sayings about palaces and hovels haven't you? I will never forget 

In this passage Sa’id recalls his memories about his former friend Rauf , and the rise and fall of their friendship. After having been rejected by him because he had been to prison, he begins to realise how much Rauf’s principles have changed. He describes the dramatic change in Rauf by comparing it to the disappearance of “Nabawiyya’s love or Ilish’s loyalty.”  This reference further highlights his feelings of betrayal towards all the people that he thought were to be trusted. 

The next lines reveal that Sa’id doesn’t take credit for any of his actions, that he doesn’t perceive them as errors , rather he blames Rauf for having taught and raised him on the same principles that he now pretends to have forgotten: “Your ideas create their embodiment in my person and then you simply change them, leaving me lost- rootless , worthless, without hope.” His character appears to be very attached to Rauf, basing all his actions on the way he choses to react to them. When Rauf clearly rejects this mentality, Sa’id immediately feels as though he has wasted his life or done wrong. He can not stand on his own two feet psychologically and identity wise and thus decides to use the tactics that Rauf taught him against him. It is almost as if Sa'id returns to his creator, only to find his back turned against him and his entire purpose in life lost. 

Ironically he contemplates : “ Hasn’t your conscience bothered you even in the dark?” His entire life , he commits crimes and feels no remorse, let alone addresses his conscience. However when Rauf  commits more or less the same action, morals and such suddenly become a topic of interest and criticality to Sa’id. 

He continuously compares everyone around him to predatory animals as that is his way of deciphering the people around him, describing them :”Like a cat creeping on its belly toward a bewildered sparrow.”, Him being the sparrow he views himself as the victim in the situation. Sa’id blames Rauf’s advice on his consequences with the law, he blames Sana for rejecting him because he’d never been there for her, he blames his wife for cheating on him and abandoning him for leading a dishonest life and going to prison. His thoughts reveal that he is a problematic person who avoids facing his weaknesses and instead seeks revenge and who to blame for his own actions. 

The Thief and the Dogs - stream of consciousness technique

The novel, The thief and the Dogs, written by Naguib Mahfouz, exhibits the technique of Stream of Consciousness. This technique is defined to be “a kind of selective omniscience: the presentation of thoughts and sense impressions in a lifelike fashion—not in a sequence arranged by logic, but mingled randomly.” -Psychologist William James.

 More clearly, it is characterised by a manner of:" writing in which a character's thoughts or perceptions are presented as occurring in random form, without regard for logical sequences, syntactic structure, distinctions between various levels of reality, or the like."

 So in essence, stream of consciousness technique is a rather diverse writing style that attempts to capture the entity of a story's worth, its ability to branch out several ways, each specific branch creating another path for the reader to be enlightened by. This technique is clearly evident in Thief and the Dogs, which is convenient to the translator as its multiple access to voices and opinions enables the translator to bring forth prominent attributes of a character and their environment, adding depth to the story and its characters. 

In the Thief and the Dogs, Mahfouz effectively uses stream of consciousness as a way to reveal Sa'id through different angles and thus give the readers some perspective on his character and how to evaluate him. By allowing Sa'ids raw thoughts to surface amongst other descriptions of a scene Mahfouz consequentially opens a door for the reader , enabling them to be exposed to a characters genuine opinions, fears and hopes. Often deviating from this technique causes the reader to judge a character based on other characters interpretations or a situation ; both of which could have bias. However, those thoughts being shown , it also may cause the reader to dislike the character as they come to know their true motives and wrongly interpret other minor characters whose only source of opinion stems from a main character as well as losing focus on the plot; clearly there are downsides to both aspects of writing style. It depends on the authors intentions , however, to find the suitable technique and approach towards how they would want to portray a character , story line or purpose of the story. In The Thief and the Dogs, Mahfouz sacrifices the opportunity of adding more depth and quality to the other characters and the story line itself for the price of a critical and true character. Mahfouz keeps the story line diverse as he constantly shifts from third person to indirect narration, creating a more open path for the story , allowing the reader to experience a situation and immediately gain knowledge of Sa'id's interpretation and thus be introduced to other characters and brought back to Sa'id's inner monologue. 

 In Chapter one of the novel, Sa'id had just been released out of prison and is soon resenting his freedom as he views all the scenery around him as ungrateful, not giving him any credit for his sacrifice. We're brought in touch with his personal thoughts and concerns as he thinks:"How will he look when he first sees you? how will his eyes meet yours ? have you forgotten ilish ? How you used to rub against my legs like dog?" Here, we exhibit the technique of Soliloquy , an internal monologue that is directed at someone and we are given some insight into his anger and hatred that could've not been expressed as explicitly written in third person. Also , some of his vulnerability is exposed through direct monologue : "Through all this darkness only your face, sana, smiles." At this moment of the first chapter, Sana, his daughter appears to be his only refugee of calm, hope and good in him. 

Mahfouz provides this insight into the character to perhaps give him a chance to shape his own image, with his side of the story and his experience and circumstances that have brought him to prison and then back into his life, just to be rejected by his daughter. Ultimately, Sa'ids  rejection by his daughter and essentially life is set up as a trigger for Sa'id, to prove that Sana really was the only great left within him, his only chance to redeem himself. 

In chapter eleven Mahfouz uses indirect inner monologue wherein the author serves as a presenter, a commentator: "Leaving his hideout made him all the more conscious of being hunted. He now knew how mice and foxes feel , slipping away on the run. Alone in the dark he could see the citys lights glimmering in the distance, lying,waiting for him." In this scene, Sa'id had given in to his urge to leave the house, to leave safety for the satisfaction of doing something, for revenge. By this indirect monologue, one is presented with Sa'id's familiarity of being hunted for and how he feels about the city's regulations.

As the ending of chapter one said in indirect inner monologue:" Said leafed through them, picking up one volume after another,"yes", he remarked sadly "most of them have been lost". Here the term "most" might not only apply to his beloved books, but also the love of his daughter and the loyalty of his wife that had both betrayed him. So as the story commences, one is already presented with Sa'ids deepest fears and highest hopes through stream of consciousness ; his decisions are all based on his feelings towards his daughter and ex-wife and as such expressing them through stream of consciousness technique has a more profound effect than simply describing it in third person.

In the novel Things fall Apart , Achebe choses to describe his main character, Okonkwo in third person. We learn that Okonkwo has a troubled past and is highly dependant on his tribes opinion of him as well as the stigma of his late father who did not live up to the Igbo expectations. Throughout the novel, Okonkwo commits questionable crimes that can not necessarily be justified by the reader. If Achebe had written about Okonkwo using the stream of consciousness technique, perhaps the readers would've been able to emphasise with him to an extent as he kills his adopted son in cold blood, beats his wives and refuses to offer emotional support to anyone, thus causing a broken family. However in The Thief and the Dogs, the many unjust actions of Sa'id, trying to steal from Rauf, shooting a stranger with the intention of shooting Ilish and making his wife fear and suffer, by knowing Sa'ids true intentions, his actions can just as equally not be justified. Interestingly, both authors bring out the fact that even though they used different ways to describe a character, those techniques were tailored to the story and its purpose ; both characters ended up dead by their own deeds and for both characters little solace can be found in their actions.

Value of studying literature in translation

Your task is to write a blog post that evaluates the value of studying literature in translation. Your post should demonstrate an awareness of specific benefits and challenges through references to today’s readings, as well as make tangible connections to the learning outcome from Part 3 of the course. This post should be an analytical response. See attached articles from our activity today.

As our course has recently shifted its focus unto translated Literature, the novel The thief and the Dog, approaching this topic analytically will further expand our understanding. Having read the readings, some interesting bits of information emerged from the usual familiar content. From the interview with  Daniel Hahn, director of the British Centre for Literary Translation , some things stated were rather relevant to this evaluation. When asked how he translates literary works , the process of it, he replies that its near to impossible to translate a story word for word. That there is no single word that fully suits the chosen word and it is rather a creative process. Daniel explains how translation is a slow careful process wherein the translator must approach the test creatively and analytically , deciphering the meaning behind every word and why the author chose to use that specific term etc in order to correctly translate. So in essence, translation is nearly writing another story entirely, where words have to be chosen rather than found. Studying literature in translation provides us with a new perspective on literature as when different languages and cultures create stories that are highlighted by their take on the world, we're closed off from a variety of mentalities and perceptions. Accessing a translated literary text opens a door for us in terms of really becoming familiar with how a translator chose to engage the english language with another one, how he/she has managed to create the same exact suspension, anger, nervousness and happiness within the readers through a different language. Studying this will enable us to see how a translator has to work with the culture and general atmosphere of the location as well as the characteristics of the author and the people within the story in order to achieve the same effects, linguistically. It is also evident how controversy can arise from the translation of literary works. Lin Fen, a popular author who" spoke in the language of the people, writing vividly of youth discovering sex and poking fun at Communist dogmas, a writer who did not dress up his often profanity-littered language in the formalities beloved by the political establishment." so he effectively comunicated his work and that raised criticism.  Feng did not expect that his translation of 'Stray Birds', a collection of 300-odd short verses penned by Tagore in 1916, would turn out to be perhaps his most controversial." So there are definitely some negative aspects to translating works, as the translator may be blamed for his skills or chosen words.