Significant Passage, Chapter 5

Nur is one of the most important characters in The Thief and the Dogs. Her necessity is twofold, presenting both a symbol and a humanizing factor. Thus the passage I choose is the one where Nur and Sa’id first see each other again in Mr. Tarzans café. She then agrees to assist Said in stealing a car from the young gentleman she has accompanied. And then later, goes onto vent her disgust and outrage with the former wife of Sa’id.

"How are you, Nur?" he asked.

               "As you can see," Tarzan said for her with a smile, "She's all light, like her name."

               "I'm fine," she said. "And you? You look very healthy. Only what's wrong with your eyes? They remind me of how you used to look when you were angry."

               "What do you mean?" he said with a grin.

               "I don't know, it's hard to describe. Your eyes turn a sort of red and your lips start twitching!"

               Said laughed. Then, with a touch of sadness, he said, "I suppose your friend will be coming soon to take you back?"

               "Oh, he's dead drunk," she said, shaking her head, tossing the hair from her eyes.

               "In any case, you're tied to him."

               "Would you like me," she said with a sly smile, "to bury him in the sand?"

               "No, not tonight. We'll meet again later. I'm told he's a real catch," he added, with a look of interest that did not escape her.

               "He sure is. We'll go in his car to the Martyr's Tomb. He likes open spaces."

               So he likes open spaces. Over near the Martyr's Tomb.

               Her eyelashes fluttered, showing a pretty confusion that increased as her gaze met his. "You see," she said with a pout, "You never think of me."

               "It's not true," he said, "You're very dear to me."

               "You're only thinking about that poor fish."

               Said smiled, "He forms a part of my thinking of you."

Though it may seem it at first, it becomes clear rather quickly that it is more than polite conversation. It is made clear that Nur understands Sa’id more than even we do, as people with access to his mind. When she mentions he looks mad, and is right, based on a twitching lip and prior experience from 4 years ago at the least. He is made genuinely sad when he thinks she has to go back and talk to the man she arrived with, whom she promptly brushes off. She then offers to ditch him in favor for Sa’id. Even from here, it is very clear she loves Sa’id, without even hearing the rant to come, or the comfort he finds in her later in the tale. She even flirts with him after he insists she has to stay with the person she arrived with. This seems rather forward, even for very old friends.

She furthers Sa’id humanity. To clarify, it is possible to say that Nur is a representation of Said happiness and trust, as he losses both with her later in the story. Without Nur, we would Said as nothing more than an animal, anger, vicious, driven, and blood hungry. Nur provides the good that is present in humans, emphasizing that we are at our best in small groups which we trust. With specific focus on Sa’id, Nur represents the light that died in him when he was put into jail. She also represent the future he cannot have, after his actions, but wants desperately. This connection is made very clear later, but is more than subtly hinted at in the fifth and sixth chapter. The manner of their interaction is indicative of at least a long term friendship, if not an actual physical attraction.

She is also useful as a symbol in the greater story arch. In the ideal of the whole, she represents the powerless. She is the manifestation of the public who suffers greatly in the senseless violence. And, those who continue to suffer after the reality of revolution and its dehumanizing products come about. This is better represented in near the end of the story, when she speaks to Said in her home. However, her turn to manipulation and survival in any manner possible, such as with the young rich man, is similar to the way the working classes were treated under Nasser, or so the story goes. She is hopeful but resigned later on, again as a reflection of the hopes of the people, and their subsequent disillusionment with the government that rose to “protect them”.