Egyptian Thievery Novel

The Thief and the Dogs, a novel written by the Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz, is a work involving stream of consciousness.  Stream of consciousness is a literary style in which the author uses visual, auditory, tactile, associative, and subliminal impressions and expresses them using interior monologue of characters that mingles thoughts and impressions, according to the Writers History website.  This literary style is apparent throughout the novel, as the point of view jumps between 1^st person and 3^rd person limited.  It is a style that enhances the novel because Mahfouz used it to serve a greater purpose – to bring about change.  Mahfouz wanted to make people aware of the problem of inequity.  In his novel, he addresses whether or not it is fair to take from the rich and give to the poor.

Stream of consciousness is a topic that was discussed in my American Literature from 1856-Present class that I am currently taking.  In this class, I learned about authors who wrote using this style – William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Katherine Anne Porter, and Allen Ginsberg.  The stream of consciousness style involves the following characteristics: recording various thoughts and feelings, exploring both external and internal forces influencing an individual’s psychology, disregard of the narrative sequence, and absence of logical argument. This writing style is heavily used in Mahfouz’s novel, The Thief and the Dogs.  The italicized text in the novel is written in 1^st person and describes the thoughts that occur in Said’s head throughout the novel.  The following excerpt is an example of this stream of consciousness:

Cut off your tongue before it betrays you and confesses your crime!  You wish to tell him everything.  He probably doesn’t need to be told.  He may even have seen you fire the gun.  And he may be able to see much more than that.

The thoughts that Said has are often conflicted between deciding whether an idea is right or wrong.  There are times when Said consults with other characters about his problems, which are seen in the 3^rd person limited text.

In addition to using the stream of consciousness style, the previously stated writers that I as exposed to in my class also used their style to bring about change.  William Faulkner worked to expose the racist Southern white myths about black inferiority and addressed the question of what is America.  F. Scott Fitzgerald covered the topics of aspiration of the idealism that defined the American character and mutability of loss.  Katherine Anne Porter was a political activist involved in protesting the Sacco and Vanzetti trial and investigating the dark side of human nature through the rise of Nazism.  Allen Ginsberg was a Beat-era poet that brought up taboo topics because he believed no change would arise in a polite silence.  Mahfouz’s novel contains themes that are universal – not only do they apply to Arabian culture, they apply to cultures around the world.  The images of prison, betrayal, and darkness that occur throughout the novel are problems that can happen anywhere in the world, not only in Egypt.

"Honeymoon Flight"

For several weeks, my class has been working on understanding the poetry of Seamus Heaney’s poetry, an Irish poet that recently died in 2013.  A major part of understanding poetry is analyzing the sound patterns, including alliteration, consonance, and assonance, all of which help to emphasize meaning.  The poem I’ve chosen to analyze is “Honeymoon Flight,” a selection from his volume entitled Death of a Naturalist. 

Below, the patchwork earth, dark hems of the hedge,

The long grey tapes of road that bind and loose
Villages and fields in casual marriage:
We blank above the small lough and farmhouse

And the sure green world goes topsy-turvy

As we climb out of our familiar landscape.
The engine noises change.  You look at me.
The coastline slips away beneath the wing-tip.

And launched right off the earth by force of fire

We hang, miraculous, above the water,
Dependent on the invisible air
To keep us airborne and to bring us further.

Ahead of us the sky’s a geyser now.

A calm voice talks of cloud yet we feel lost.
Air-pockets jolt our fears and down we go.
Travellers, at this point, can only trust.

The use of alliteration at the end of the poem with the consonant “t” sound connects together the first and last word of the last line of the poem.  Travellers do indeed need to trust the pilots that fly the planes they are passengers on.  Heaney’s use of alliteration in the first line of the third stanza with the consonant “f” sound emphasizes the power that an airplane has.  Sometimes we take for granted how airplanes work and the science behind keeping something so large in the air.  The first line of the poem features the alliteration of the “h” sound.  The imagery of “hems” and “hedge” paint a picture of what the earth looks like from the sky.  The awe of flying includes being able to differentiate between land and water, forests and fields.

After analyzing the sound patterns, I was able to look deeper into the poem for more meaning.  The poem focuses on two new experiences – marriage and flying on a plane.  Both of these experiences involve risk and overcoming fear through trust.  These two experiences are the themes constant throughout the four stanzas of the poem.  There are two ways to interpret the first stanza of the poem.  The land is given feminine features, which are reminiscent of the recent wedding ceremony:

          Below, the patchwork earth, dark hems of hedge,
          The long grey tapes of road that bind and loose
          Villages and fields in casual marriage
“Hems” may describe the bride’s wedding dress, while “bind and loose” could describe the bond that is created when a couple is married.  The “patchwork” references how when a couple marries, both the bride and groom bring together their customs, culture, and beliefs that are pieced together into a patchwork upon marriage.  This first interpretation of the first stanza gives the poem an exciting tone, as the happy couple is freshly married and off on their first plane ride, contrasting with the darker overtone of the second interpretation.  The use of the words “dark” and “grey” could be used to describe the unavoidable dark periods of marriages, where the couple will fight and disagree with each other.  It could foreshadow that possibly their marriage will not work out because perhaps they are too different.  This is further supported in the following stanzas that go on to describe the plane ride – a marriage can at sometimes be a bumpy ride.

Franciscan Knighthood

Yvain, The Knight of the Lion, written by 12^th century French poet Chrétien de Troyes, is romance of a knight errantry that is exiled from his lady and is required to perform a number of heroic deeds before regaining her love.  While reading this poem, I drew connections between the themes of the poem and the Franciscan values I learned about in my Introduction to Liberal Arts Studies class in fall 2013.  These values are community, compassion, peacemaking, and reverence for creation.

Community involves celebrating the dignity of every individual because we were each created in the image and likeness of God.  From this concept of community flow the ideas of hospitality, courtesy, and cooperation.  This value of community is exemplified in the poem by Lunette, Laudine’s servant.  In the poem, Yvain has slain Laudine’s husband Esclados, and proceeds to hide in their castle.  Lunette keeps him hidden and provides him with food, water, and other necessities as described in the following quote:

     The girl returned, as fast
     As possible, with a roasted fowl
     And a cake and a tablecloth
     And a full jug of wine
     Made from good grapes, and a white
     Goblet covering it, and invited him
     To dine.
She shows great hospitality and kindness, which encourages Yvain to fall in love with Laudine, whom he eventually reveals himself to.

The value of compassion involves putting others ahead of ourselves by listening, recognizing their needs, serving humbly, and working for the dignity of every person.  Yvain displays the characteristics of compassion during his quest to win back his wife, Laudine.  Along the way, Yvain runs into various damsels in distress who he pledges to assist.  Among the deeds he did were slaying a giant terrorizing a castle and saving Lunette from being burned at the stake.  Yvain recognized the needs of these young women and because he was a knight, went out of his way to assist them.

Peace can only be achieved through an attitude expressed through words and actions that can only be sustained through a deep spirituality.  Peacemaking renounces all forms of dominance over another – reconciliation and justice are equal partners.  Yvain exhibits peacemaking by assisting the various castles that he rests at.  In each case, he usually offers help to a lady in distress and in doing so, brings about justice to the castle.  In one instance, a giant is terrorizing a castle by taking a king’s sons until he releases his daughter to him.  Yvain arrives at the castle and slays the giant so the king can keep his daughter and his sons are returned to him.

Reverence for creation involves recognizing that all creation is a reflection of the truth, beauty and goodness of God.  Yvain demonstrates this by saving the lion from the snake.  He debates which creature to save in the following excerpt:

     He asked himself which
     Of the two he ought to help,
     Then told himself to help
     The lion, for a venomous and treacherous
     Beast should not be permitted to do evil.
The lion then shows his appreciation for Yvain by assisting him in his battles and demonstrating the goodness of creation.