Melanie Shannon, Michael Hysell, Sarah Hagan, Carrie Mofield

Dr. Shattuck

English 241

14 November 2008

The Role of Women in The Thief and the Dogs

            Sa’id is an interesting character for a number of reasons. He is driven by his thirst for vengeance, and that has a profound effect on how he views others around him. Since The Thief and the Dogs is told largely from his perspective, it is possible that his views on other characters are tainted. Nur and Nabawiyya arguably have the most important roles in the direction of the story. The purpose of this paper is to closely examine how Nur and Nabawiyya influence the novel, and to give readers a deeper insight into the two character’s true nature.

Because of the sometimes vague descriptions given of these two characters throughout the novel, readers are often left confused about their true identities and purposes. Mahfouz creates these strong and independent female characters by uniting and manipulating common stereotypes of women. One way in which he accomplishes this is by creating a stark contrast between the two of them. Nur, the whore, and Nabawiyya, the virgin, are as different as night and day in the story, and each serves a distinct purpose.

Upon first entering the minds of the readers, Nur is described as dirty and discreditable. Though she used to be a very close friend of Sa’id before he was sent to prison, she had since fallen from greatness into the slums of society. She was reduced to a simple whore, and it is not until Sa’id reemerges in her life that she seems to desire to get her life back on track. Alternatively, Nabawiyya was Sa'id's loving wife, and her presence had the effect of an angel upon him. With Nabawiyya, Sa'id felt that he had a complete life. When she ultimately betrayed him, she fell from grace and became the object of Sa'id's desire for revenge.

Throughout the story, Mahfouz goes to great lengths to validate Nur’s character by allowing her to speak her mind, which gives the reader a keen insight into her true nature. Her personality also develops throughout the novel, as she is transformed from a repulsive character with little self-respect to a loving, caring, compassionate woman; interestingly, this is also a likely description that Sa’id would have given of Nabawiyya before she had betrayed him. Nur’s only desire after being reunited with her old friend is to leave all other problems and desires behind, and to live together happily for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, Sa’id seems to have no interest in doing this until it is too late. It is possible that Nur came to the realization that Sa’id would never give up his quest for vengeance and decided that the best action would be to leave.

Towards the end of the novel, Mahfouz twists the storyline by completely removing Nur, leaving the reader to discern whether she had ran away from Sa’id or if she had been taken. Nur’s character is one of the more interesting ones in the story because while at any one time she can be summed up as a stereotypical character, the specific stereotype that she encompasses shifts several times throughout the story. From a compassionate friend with a crush, to a love-less whore, to a caring lover, to completely disappearing, Mahfouz does an excellent job of keeping readers interested in Nur’s character.

Very little is known about Nabawiyya at first other than that she had somehow betrayed Sa’id, the man that she was supposed to have loved and devoted herself to. Because of her character’s complete absence from the story, the only way that the reader has to discover information about her is to gather it from Sa’id’s memories. Being that Sa’id has shown mental instability throughout the novel by his erratic actions, it is impossible to say whether his thoughts about Nabawiyya were in fact real, or just a creation of his twisted mind.

The uncertainty surrounding Nabawiyya gives the story an infinite number of possible variations. Was Nabawiyya physically forced to betray Sa’id? Did she betray Sa’id at all, or was it all a figment of his imagination? The answer to these or a number of other questions would have had a profound impact on the entire context of the story. The importance placed upon not knowing concrete information about Nabawiyya is one of the shaping aspects of The Thief and the Dogs.

            Besides Nur and Nabawiyya, one other female character that influenced the story through Sa’id was his mother. Though she was only mentioned in the thoughts of the main character, Sa’id’s mother was the first one to impress the image of the perfect woman upon him when he was much younger. This image, which Nabawiyya initially reflected, was one of the driving factors behind Sa’id’s rage that stemmed from his wife’s betrayal. After he was sent to prison, Sa’id had nobody left to fill the void that his wife had left. It was not until Nur came back into his life that he began to feel some semblance of the happiness that he had lost. Unfortunately, Sa’id did not realize that it was Nur’s intention to fill this void in his life until it was too late. He had already murdered two innocent people, and was destined to die.

From the beginning, Nabawiyya’s character is a stark contrast to Nur’s. Nur is initially a fellow thief and good friend to Sa’id, while Nabawiyya was Sa’id’s loving and devoted wife. From there, things devolved when Nabawiyya betrayed Sa’id and Nur fell into the shadows and began to work as a prostitute to sustain herself. Upon Sa’id’s release from prison, Nur assumed Nabawiyya’s old position, and even though she was absent from the story, Nabawiyya slipped into the shadows in an attempt to avoid any form of confrontation with her ex-husband.

Throughout the story, the two female characters seem to do quite a bit of roll-reversing. It is impossible to say if Nur ultimately betrayed Sa’id because her fate was never revealed in the novel. Nabawiyya, though absent, had a profound effect on Sa’id’s mindset. Her indirect presence forced Sa’id to the desperate lengths he went in his quest for revenge. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Nur’s presence had more of a comforting effect on Sa’id. Though it is never discovered what exactly happened with her, had Nur not been the friend that Sa’id so desperately needed, there is no way to know for sure how many more people would have been hurt in Sa’id’s quest.

Works Cited

Mahfouz, Naguib. The Thief and the Dogs. 1961. New York, New York: Anchor Books,

2008.