Characterization of Said Mahran in TTATD

Passage:

Said started back in fright, darting in again between the tombs while the barking grew louder. He pressed his back against a tomb and took out his gun, staring out into the darkness resignedly. There it was. The dogs had come at last and there was no hope left. The scoundrels were safe, if only for a while. His life had made its last utterance, saying that it had all been in vain.

 It was impossible to tell precisely where the barking came from; it was carried in on the air from all around. It was hopeless now to think of fleeing from the dark by running away into the dark. The scoundrels had indeed got away with it; his life was a proven failure. The barking and the commotion were very close now and soon, Said knew, all the malice and revengefulness he'd been running from would be breathed right into his face. He held his gun poised as the barking grew ever louder and closer. And suddenly there was blinding light over the whole area. He shut his eyes and crouched at the base of the tomb.  "Give yourself up," a triumphant voice shouted. "There's no purpose in resisting."  The ground shook now with the thud of heavy feet surrounding him and the light spread all around, like the sun.  "Give yourself up, Said," the voice said firmly.  He crouched closer still to the tomb, ready to open fire, turning his head in all directions.  "Surrender," came another shout, confident, reassuring and dignified, "and I promise you you'll be treated with all humanity."  _Like the humanity of Rauf, Nabawiyya, Ilish and the dogs, no doubt?_ "You're surrounded on all sides. The whole cemetery is surrounded. Think it over carefully, Said. Give yourself up."  Sure that the enormous and irregular multitude of the tombs prevented them from actually seeing him, Said made no movement. He had decided on death.  "Can't you see there's no point in resistance?" the firm voice shouted.  It seemed to be nearer now than before and Said shouted back warningly:  "Any closer and I'll shoot."  "Very well, then. What do you want to do? Make your choice between death and coming to justice."  "Justice indeed!" Said yelled scornfully.  "You're being very stubborn. You've got one minute more."  His fear-tortured eyes could see the phantom of death now, stalking through the dark.  Sana had turned away from him in alarm, hopelessly.  He sensed surreptitious movement near, flared with rage, and opened fire. The bullets showered in, their whistle filling his ears, chips flying from tombs all around. He fired again, oblivious to danger now, and more bullets pelted in. "You dogs, you!" he raved in a frenzy of rage and more shots came in from all sides.  Suddenly the blinding light went out, and the firing stopped; there was darkness again and quiet fell. He, too, wasn't firing any more. Slowly the silence was spreading, until all the world seemed gripped in some strange stupefaction. He wondered . . . ? But the question and even its subject seemed to dissolve, leaving no traces. Perhaps, he thought, they had retreated, slipped away into the night. Why then he must have won!  The darkness was thicker now and he could see nothing at all, not even the outlines of the tombs, as if nothing wished to be seen. He was slipping away into endless depths, not knowing for himself either position, place or purpose. As hard as he could, he tried to gain control of something, no matter what. To exert one last act of resistance. To capture one last recalcitrant memory. But finally because he had to succumb and not caring, he surrendered. Not caring at all now.

Analysis:

Within the core of this passage lies the deep-rooted characterization of Said Mahran as the stubborn protagonist, unable to move on with his life due to his heavy thirst for revenge.

Despite being greatly outnumbered, Said unleashes his gun. Only in this moment he realizes that his long continued plans are on the verge of failure. However instead of surrendering to the police, he continues to run away and fight back. The repetition of “give yourself up” and “surrender”, loudly articulated by the police, further projected Said’s resistance and stubbornness, as these characteristics were present from the start of his descending journey until his last breaths. Once the police assure Said of his humanity, Mahfouz integrates stream of consciousness when Said says to himself “Like the humanity of Rauf, Nabawiyya, Ilish and the dogs, no doubt”. This form of sarcasm is a direct reference to his major tragic flaw regarding his inability to move on and change, as this grudge held towards those who betrayed him was still present during such time of crisis. Moreover the term “dogs” is stated during this phrase as well as “You dogs, you!”. The repetition of this animal metaphor is targeted at all those who betrayed Said. This is significant as Said is continuously singling himself out as the victim, where he believes everyone is against him and he is the only one that is doing everything right. As a result, this fuels his anger and thus his constant drive for revenge, as he cannot register anything else but killing his enemies. Now that he is cornered by the “dogs”, in which were Said’s last words, he is ironically overthrown by them. Nonetheless, Said’s persistent and stubborn character further shines through after his death where he assumes that he has won after experiencing complete darkness. Mahfouz seamlessly employs third person narration to describe this as well as Said’s final state of mind: “He was slipping away into endless depths, not knowing for himself either position, place or purpose. As hard as he could, he tried to gain control of something, no matter what. To exert one last act of resistance. To capture one last recalcitrant memory. But finally because he had to succumb and not caring, he surrendered. Not caring at all now.”

This being the last portion of the novel concludes and reaffirms Said’s lost self, which begun during his reversal of fortunes when he was betrayed and sent to prison. Despite his release he was already in a state of decline, which triggered instability within his psychological state. Furthermore, Said’s perseverance is apparent from his attempts to resist even during his last moments. Nonetheless, his lack of power and defeat by the police resulted in his surrender. This circular representation of Said, in which portrayed him as a tragic hero, was the source of his death.