Summary
Chapter 4
Said ruminates on the falseness of Rauf, who made him and now forgets him, who betrayed him vilely. He doubts Rauf even realizes what a traitor he is. Said is fated to be surrounded by traitors; they are all the same. Rauf’s guilt is greater if only because he is more intelligent and because of their past association; he pushed Said into jail while he prospered.
Said sits on a bench near a bridge, thinking about his profession. In his view it is ethical, and it will always be a legitimate trade and something he is good at. Though part of him wishes he could forget about everyone who wronged him, he knows that if he does not settle accounts, “life will have no taste, because I shall not forget the past” (49).
Dawn approaches and Said finds himself wandering back toward Rauf’s villa. He knows he is going to break into it, and comforts himself that it will be a rich venture.
He dodges into a hedge and waits to hear dogs, but everything is silent. He nimbly climbs the hedge, then up a drainpipe. In the past Nabawiyya would have been in disguise as a maid, giving him information, but now he has to do it on his own. He sees an open window and drops into it.
The darkness is all-encompassing and he is not quite sure what room he is in. Suddenly light floods him, burning his eyes. Rauf Ilwan stands before him, with cold eyes and tight lips. Said is chilled at the hatred in his former friend’s face. A few servants ask if they ought to call the police. Rauf tells them to wait outside.
He addresses Said, telling him he knew what Said would do; he has been waiting for him, hoping to be disappointed. He tells Said he is worthless and will die a worthless death, and the best thing he can do is to hand him to the police. He asks why he treats him like an enemy. Said says he is not feeling well and that jail has discombobulated him, but Rauf refuses to believe him.
Rauf dismisses Said, but first asks for the money back. He tells him never to show his face again.
Outside Said is relieved but defeated. For a moment, though, dawn gives him a brief sense of solace for his tremendous losses.
Chapter 5
Said goes to a familiar cafe, whose proprietor, Mr. Tarzan, greets him warmly. Men swarm around him and excitedly greet him and exchange news. The cafe looks as it once did. Said whispers to Tarzan that he needs a revolver, and his old friend says he is happy to oblige.
Said drinks his tea and then stands by the window, staring out at the dim stars and the lights of Abbasiyya in the distance. He hears two men sitting outside talking philosophically of security, death, and courage, and he remembers a time when he felt he had courage, energy, and conviction. He took up arms for the national cause and not for murder. His leader always told him that he needed only a gun and a book in life—the gun for the past and the book for the future. The leader was also delighted that Said stole, telling him “using theft to relieve the exploiters of some of their guilt is absolutely legitimate” (59).
Tarzan comes up to him and surreptitiously hands him a revolver. He says it is a gift but Said refuses this, saying he will pay him back but needs time. They hear a woman’s laughter and Tarzan says it is Nur, cavorting with her new man. Nur had been in love with Said once, but Said did not feel the same way.
Nur enters the room and stands amazed when she sees Said. She is thinner, with heavy makeup and a very sexy dress; Said thinks she no longer has any self-respect. She runs to him and embraces him. Said smiles at her sadly. He asks if her new friend will come get her and she laughs that he is drunk.
Said tells her he’s heard the man is a real catch; Nur understands his meaning. She says he likes open spaces like the Martyr’s Tomb, where they go with their car. She warns Said that the man’s father is from a very influential family. Said stands and stretches and says he needs a car. He tells her to be natural with the man so as not to rouse his suspicions, and when they’re done, they’ll see a lot more of each other.
Chapter 6
Said drives out to the Tomb and parks out of sight. He ventures close and hears the couple making love. He yanks open the door and shouts for them not to move. Nur begs him to let them be and the man is almost in tears. Said demands money, which the man gives him before bolting out into the desert.
Said jumps into the driver’s seat with Nur next to him. She confesses she was actually a bit scared at first. As they drive, he marvels that he went to Tarzan’s for a revolver and a car, and now a car has just dropped into his lap. He tells Nur she was fantastic and ought to be on the stage.
Nur asks why he needs a gun and if he is going back to thieving when he just got out of jail. He asks if she’s ever found a way to change her job, and she says nothing. She then tells him she was sad when he was locked up, and asks if he wants to stay at her place tonight. All he responds with is that she should get out now and go to the police and file a report, and describe the assailant as very different-looking than him. She asks if he will promise to come see her, and he says yes and drives away.
Chapter 7
Said dreams of killing Ilish and Nabawiyya at the same time, and then Rauf Ilwan, but wonders what to do about Sana. He knows he should not be impulsive, but also that there is no benefit to delay when one is a hunted man.
At Imam Way, all is quiet and deserted. Everyone is at home, asleep, unsuspecting. Said approaches Ilish’s house and makes his way upstairs. The door is closed and he will have to break in. He is consumed by the thought that it is not right that Ilish stays alive for even one more day now that he, Said, is free.
Said breaks the glass pane. The noise is loud, and Ilish’s voice is heard asking who is there. Said points the gun at him and fires, then again, striking him. He hears Nabawiyya screaming and yells that her turn will come. He rushes out of the house, then walks calmly away to his car.
When he sees a policeman hurrying toward the house, he hides in the car and then speeds away. He is filled with confusion and is only half-aware of what he has done—he is a murderer! He has a new identity and a new destiny; he is the devil himself. Nabawiyya’s turn will come, but for now she has the unrelenting fear of death to torment her.
He knows he must hide so he is not caught. He drives out to Manshiyyat al-Bakri, where he abandons the car and walks away. Nowhere is safe for him, not even Nur's place.
Analysis
Said shows no interest in fashioning a new life for himself outside of prison, and not only goes back to thieving but adds murder to his resume. Again, he may be right to be enraged about what happened to him, but he seems to find it impossible to take any responsibility for his actions or to think through what the best course of action is for him now. Based on his decisions to rob Rauf and to shoot Ilish (or who he thinks is Ilish), he is committing himself to life in exile. Critic Fatma Moussa-Mahmoud notes that many of Mahfouz’s novels tell the story of an outlaw or an exile, and writes of The Thief and the Dogs: “[Said] is an outlaw, a thief who has just come out of prison. He stands absolutely alone, intent on revenge, for he has been betrayed by members of his gang, and by his wife, who sued for divorce during his term of imprisonment and married his assistant. He is bent on destroying them in revenge, and his release from prison brings no relief from oppressive thoughts.”
The desire for revenge on Rauf will eventually subsume that for Ilish. Why does Rauf rankle Said so much more? First of all, Said went into their meeting with high hopes, thinking Rauf might be able to get him a job. Second, those high hopes stemmed from their former relationship. Said saw Rauf as “a friend and mentor, a sword of reason ever drawn” (36). Rauf had been “a young peasant with shabby clothes, a big heart, and a direct and glittering style of writing” (34). He took care of Said and his mother when Said’s father died, helping Said get his father’s custodial position. He was “very capable” and “impressive, no matter what the circumstances, and you loved him as you did Sheikh Ali, perhaps even more” (103). His revolutionary ideals were fervent and sincere (or at least they seemed so at the time).
Critic Fouad Ajami explains, “In the old days Rauf had been a firebrand, and Said probes him across this new barrier of wealth and ease. ‘The news astounded us in prison. Who could have predicted such things. No class war now?’ The man of this new order understands his old friend’s mind. ‘Let there be a truce. Every struggle has its proper field of battle.’ Back when they were younger men, before the revolution had given him his new means, Rauf had preached a different doctrine…” This putative betrayal is particularly galling to Said because, as he wishes he could say to Rauf, “You made me and now you reject me” (47). Rauf told Said in the past that he approved of his thieving, and even encouraged him to do so because it was a noble thing to do; he said that “using theft to relieve the exploiters of some of their guilt is absolutely legitimate” (59). Always “spelling out words of wisdom” (59), Rauf gave Said advice that stuck with him—“What does a man need in this country, Said?...He needs a gun and a book: the gun will take care of the past, the book is for the future” (59). Thus, Said feels Rauf’s “guilt is greater because of [his] intelligence and the past association between [them]” (48).
We meet another important character in this section: Nur. Like Nabawiyya, we only see her through Said’s eyes, and he is rather critical at first. The two of them had some sort of connection in the past—she is a prostitute—and she loved him, but he cared only for his wife. When he sees her again, he notices “she’d grown thinner, her face was disguised by heavy makeup, and she was wearing a sexy frock that not only showed her arms and legs but was fitted so tightly to her body that it might have been stretched rubber. What it advertised was that she’d given up all claims to self-respect” (60-61). This is obviously a rude and unfair thing to think, given that he is a thief and is hours away from murdering someone, but he is not yet able to see Nur’s merits (discussed in later analyses).
