This chapter contains one animal image when Nur refers to Nabawiyya as “that bitch” (p.258), a very derogatory term. This may be related to the title of “The Thief and the Dogs” (p.145) with Nabawiyya once again referred to as the dog. Compared to previous chapters, there are a lot of symbols and foreshadowing in this chapter. There is also a lot of imagery about death and darkness that may foreshadow his imminent death.
The residents of Cairo are described by Said to be “choking with boredom” (p.255) yet, he also is “choking on the question”(p.255) about the whole situation being madness. This image of people choking can be directly linked to the image of the hangman being the bringer of death to Said when he states that “[He] will always seek the head of Rauf Ilwan, even as a last request from the hangman” (p.256-257). Said describes his betrayal and fall from grace to be due to them having “chopped off [his] head, that killed [him] dead!”(p.255) Said’s references to death in this chapter may signal Said’s realization that his death is inevitable after becoming a wanted man.
Sympathetic background is also used to indicate and emphasize Said’s spiral into darkness. Said was “alone in the night” (p.155) and “he stood in the dark enveloped in the silence of the neighboring graves” (p.255) Said is surrounded by darkness literally and figuratively in his life, he has only a few options left. Ironically, he is surrounded by silence in that he cannot talk to that many people besides Nur and Tarzan, yet his thoughts have been anything but silent. Naguib Mahfouz also uses the darkness and cemeteries as symbols for justice here. Said “looked over the cemetery, at the graves lying there quietly in the moonlight” (p.255) and states that “[he’s] decided to offer [his] own defense” (p.255). From this, it is seen that Said is holding a trial in his mind while staring at the graves and speaking to the darkness. The graves symbolize the judge and the darkness the court. It is ironic that the usual symbol for death, the graves, is seen as a symbol for justice. This symbol relating justice to death brings me to the question if death is necessary for justice. Can true justice be found only in death?
Another notable symbol is Said’s gun. Said states that for “[his gun, it’s obvious that it will kill only the innocent. [He’ll] be its last victim.” (p.255) This idea that the gun will only kill the innocent raises the question about Said’s innocence. So far in the novel, Said’s gun has killed two innocent people as he had said. If Said is killed by a gun, which at this point symbolizes innocence, is this proof that Said is a victim to the changes brought by either time or the revolution and actually innocent? Said is also a symbol of change and the future in this chapter as explained further in the characterization portion.
The references and images created about death, graves and guns, foreshadow Said’s own death. At this point in the novel, we do not know exactly how Said dies. But the repetition of images about death indicates that Said will most likely die.
Tags: death, gun, Said, Sympathetic Background
