TATD Said Mahran Characterization

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 a dog? It was me, wasn't it, who taught you how to stand on your own two feet, who made a man of a cigarette-butt cadger? You've forgotten, Ilish, and you're not the only one: She's forgotten, too, that woman who sprang from filth, from vermin, from treachery and infidelity.

Through all this darkness only your face, Sana, smiles. When we meet I'll know how I stand. In a little while, as soon as I've covered the length of this road, gone past all these gloomy arcades, where people used to have fun. Onward and upward. But not to glory. I swear I hate you all.

The bars have shut down and only the side streets are open, where plots are hatched From time to time he has to cross over a hole in the pavement set there like a snare and the wheels of streetcars growl and shriek like abuse. Confused cries seem to seep from the curbside garbage. (1 swear I hate you all.) Houses of temptation, their windows beckoning even when eyeless, walls scowling where plaster has fallen. And that strange lane, al-Sayrafi Lane, which brings back dark memories. Where the thief stole, then vanished, whisked away. (Woe to the traitors.) Where police who'd staked out the area had slithered in to surround you.

Analyses:

Throughout the passage Mahfouz utilize the writing technique of stream of conciseness to depict the true feelings and current thoughts of Said.  This passage is from the first chapter as Mahfouz is still creating an image of the character of Said, displaying his intentions and motivations within the story. Because it is the beginning of the story Mahfouz will be using primarily direct characterization through the interactions within the world.

Within the first paragraph we see a heavy use of third person narrating within the stream of consciousness, defined by the use of italicization. Traditionally when Mahfouz writes in the stream of consciousness he is writing from the view and mind of Said in first person. This unnatural use of writing demonstrates Said’s own distance with himself, the confusion and conflict within his character in regards to his situation, Mahfouz is attempting to show how Said doesn’t truly know who he is. The paragraph begins with Said questioning himself and how will he be when he meets Sana his daughter whom he hasn’t seen for four years. He continues to question other relationships which he used to hold, all very rhetorical to offer a contrast between the life he left and the life he is returning to, one of constant uncertainty.

The following paragraph Mahfouz uses brief sentences to show the speed and intensity of his brains thoughts especially in regards to his daughter, within the same paragraph he appears very enlightened and joyous. Through association within the same paragraph the reader is able to know that Sana is deeply important and is one of the largest motivations for Said. However, he ends with an aggressive bite a key use of contrast between Said’s relationships, the use of hating is in reference to those whom betrayed him and he is shown to be consumed by it as it dominates even his happiest of thoughts.

The last paragraph begins with Said’s thoughts of his past life as he looks around the street he is walking down. This is purposefully interrupted by the normal narrative and stops the flow created by prolonged use of the stream of consciousness. This break disrupts the momentum and resets the perspective of the reader, but Mahfouz throws them back into the furious anger which Said has for his enemies and the use of parenthesizes to distinctly emphasize the largest and most festering thoughts which Said has.

This passage in general is meant to demonstrate and initiate the reader into the world through the perspective of the main character Said, and the relationships which he holds.