The Thief and the Dogs

Said refers to his betrayers as “dogs” because he has an extremely low opinion of dogs, which he mostly sees scratching around the dirty streets of Cairo. To Said, dogs are the lowest form of life imaginable. Therefore, they are the ideal choice when he is searching for a comparison for the people he detests most in the world. Said uses dogs as a deliberate metaphor to convey his contempt for Ilwan, Ilish, and Nabawiyya. By framing them as dogs, he can convince himself that they are less than human, and by dehumanizing them he can justify his revenge against them.

Said’s own behavior also becomes increasingly doglike over the course of the novel. By the end of Said's life, he is gnawing at bones and sleeping on the floor in a corner of the room. He wanders the streets searching for a home, scratching around in the dark for anything to eat. Said has become the kind of dog which he always hated, not unlike Ilwan. His behavioral transformation is a metaphor for the corrupting power of revenge. He becomes everything that he hates because the hate that he harbors comes to define him in the absence of other systems of belief.