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Introduction

Stream of consciousness in "The Thief and the Dogs" and "Broken April" Stream of consciousness is the literary technique used by the writer to show the thoughts and feelings of a character. This technique shows us the inner thoughts that are going on in the characters mind and show us the characters point of view on a certain subject or topic of relevance. Stream of consciousness writing is strongly associated with the modernist movement. There are different methods for Stream of Consciousness mainly "interior monologue" and "free indirect style". These 2 are used in the 2 different books - "The Thief and the Dogs" and "Broken April" respectively. In the book "The Thief and the Dogs" Naguib Mahfouz, the author uses Stream of Consciousness to a great effect. He uses this technique to tell us what is going in the mind of Said who is the protagonist. The story is about Said and his life; his thoughts and beliefs. The story is written from the point of view of Said and not the society. ...read more.

Middle

Said is actually an anti-hero but owing to stream of consciousness he gains a lot of sympathy from the readers. The theme of the book is mainly crime, society and redemption. Mahfouz uses this technique to his advantage and in this way even the theme of the story becomes clearer to the reader. The title "The Thief and the Dogs" is also aptly described with the help of stream of consciousness. Rauf and Ilish represent society and oppress Said and that's why Said thinks of them as "dogs" and of himself as the "thief". After being betrayed by two of his closest friends and his wife and daughter he feels lonely and hence wants revenge. He wants his daughter to call him "daddy" and come running into his arms like he wants her to but that doesn't happen. This is why he thinks that even his daughter deceived him and decides to never be deceived by appearances. His thoughts are always brought forth which help him as well as the reader to justify his every act. ...read more.

Conclusion

The writer manages to create place for Gjorg in the readers' heart but it is not the same as in "The Thief and the Dogs". The same technique is used for Diana and Bessian too. Diana has come to the high plateau of the north with her husband Bessian Vorpsi on their honeymoon. Diana had just come there for the sake of her husband and throughout the story we see the author describing the thoughts of Diana when she sees the plateau and learns about the "kanun" present there. She does not like the thought of it but her husband who is a writer and has written a lot of books on the "kanun" finds it a very interesting topic. He wants to learn more about it and experience it. All this is told to us by the author and not the characters. Mark Ukacierra is also a character in this story who is the steward of the blood is also described by the author. His thoughts, worries and feelings are all told to us by the author using stream of consciousness as a medium. This technique is used in both books by the authors very brilliantly and brings out the essence of the story as well as the characters. ...read more.

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