Death has been a prevalent theme in the literature of all cultures throughout the centuries. In The Thief and the Dogs, author Naguib Mahfouz explores the realm of death and its interconnections with life. Witnessing the upheavals of the Egyptian revolutions since his childhood, it is no wonder that Mahfouz creates a fictional world that reflects the chaos of his nation with a protagonist whose role is to confront the confusion of the contemporary world and revisit the core traditional values, one of which is the relationship between life and death. The author's use of the cemetery symbol not only elucidates the protagonist's confusion in the face of a treacherous world, but also clarifies Mahfouz's own views on death. The symbolism of the cemetery darkly embodies Said Mahran's inherent decadent psyche and perception of the world, which come together to make a philosophical statement about death being the final "truth" that Said had so madly pursued. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The vast expanse of the cemetery, serving as the backdrop against which the novel takes place, is symbolic of Said Mahran's psychological decadence. Although Said's death at the end of the novel may seem hasty, it is an illusion. Mahfouz's use of the cemetery symbol suggests that at some level of consciousness, Said was always aware of his impending death. The feeling of doom and despondency is revealed to readers when Nur asks after a long day of work: "How did you spend your time" and Said responds dejectedly: "between the shadows and the graves" (157). The shadows advance gradually, hovering over Said's personality and slowly assassinating his sanity. Toward the end of the novel, what remains of Said when the dogs surround him is no longer a complete human being, but just a physical body devoid of mind or emotion. The symbolism of the cemetery is the murderer of his soul, because it is the consummate silence, which gradually empties Said of all emotion and all human reason. At one point he said to himself: "The silence of the tombs is more intense, but you can't turn on the light... your eyes will get used to the darkness, like they did in prison and all those ugly faces. » (95). To some extent, on a subconscious level, Said looks at the murderer of his reason - the silence of the graves - and ambiguously recognizes the transformations taking place in his mental state, but he is powerless to defend himself due to his blind rage. revenge. Said's extreme hatred of his traitors creates an inevitable sadness over his life, a darkness that "made a black wall in his path." Without question, Said “immersed himself among the tombs in the labyrinthine path” (155). Said's final death is not unforeseen, but an inevitable possibility. The “ghost of death” finally emerges from the shadows, slinking through the darkness. Vengeance is a scourge that pillages Saïd's very soul: hatred, the growing greed to kill, foreshadow and lead to his own disappearance. Said is psychologically murdered numerous times by the silent solitude of the cemetery before the shadows of hatred and paranoia finally advance over his physical existence. While the cemetery symbolizes a dark and lonely spiritual destiny for Said Mahran, it also serves as a more direct source. symbol since traitors are compared to corpses in tombs. The short story revolves around characters living in the lower strata of society, such as criminals, prostitutes and thieves. So, they are in a sense already “underground” – buriedin their own graves, while a new nation, created by the Egyptian revolution of 1952, continues to rise above them. More importantly, the cemetery becomes a personal symbol for Said and the symbol of his own perception of the world, assuming a particular quality because an intense emotional animosity is directly linked to the corpses in the cemetery. Said constantly refers to the people who betrayed him as associated with the cemetery, as if the whole world was already dead in his eyes: "So this is the real Rauf Iwan, the naked reality --- a partial corpse not even decently underground" (47). The expanse of the cemetery surrounding Said's temporary residence is a reminder that he is no longer alone in the world, since all those who died and buried underground no longer have any tangible relationships with him. His deceased father seems to exist only in a dream state, far from violent reality, and his mother is never mentioned. Thus, there is no emotional connection between Said and the people buried in the cemetery; his total silence isolates him, discouraging him from ruminating further on the dead or the afterlife. The melancholy of the tombs fails to offer Said human companionship, and the people around him who are still alive are just as indifferent. Thus, Said considers the Living to be just as useless as the dead, associating them with the corpses buried in the cemetery. The cemetery symbolizes Said's lack of faith both in the afterlife and in his present world. Although the cemetery illustrates Said's dismal perception of the world and spiritual loneliness, the symbolism also serves as an antithesis by ironically becoming Said's source of strength. Indeed, Said feels minimal emotional attachment to those buried underground, but he believes deeply in the ethereal quality of the cemetery and its melancholic authority. Said's faith in the unknown power of the cemetery is greater than his faith in the Sheikh himself. Instead of obtaining spiritual support from the Sheikh, it is to the graves that Said seeks spiritual power, for he believes that the cemetery radiates "a force stronger than death itself" (101). Ironically, it is also in the tombs that Said will ultimately be buried. He thus returns to the very place which gave him strength. Death takes on a mystical nature since Said considers that “all those things lying around in the cemetery under the window [will] help him” (114). The corpses buried underground, breathing silently in all their entirety, gain solemn authority in Said's soul and the twisted silence fuels his madness, giving him the power to continue his revenge. Death, in all its globality and solemnity, seems to mock the trivial conflicts that trouble those who are still alive. Here it is suggested that death is surreal; it is an eternal mystery since the Dead cannot tell its story to the Living. Much like the philosophy discussed behind the Allegory of Socrates' Cave, as told by Plato, those who seek the final truth, the final revelation, will forever have passed to the "other side" of reality. Said Mahran believes that death is the final revelation and the final reality, and it is his belief in this final peace that allows him to face death with immediate acceptance. Mahfouz describes the cemetery in a tone of respectful submission: “So many tombs arranged as far as the eye can see. Their tombstones are like hands raised in surrender…A city of silence and truth, where murder and victim meet, where thieves and police rest side by side in peace for the first and last time” (89). The cemetery carries the overlapping theme, the general mood of the short story that the "final peace" is always harmony. Described as a city with complete opposites residing in.