Men In the Sun

I absolutely loved the short novella, "Men In the Sun". The first part of the story was a bit confusing when there was switching between characters, but the last 20 pages or so ties all these characters together. To give a short synopsis, the story follows four main characters: Abu Qais, an older man trying to escape occupation and create a better life for his family. Assad is trying to make his way to Iraq after borrowing money from his uncle, in order to escape an arranged marriage with his cousin. Marwan is trying to find a job to provide for his family, after his father left for another woman and his brother decided to get married. The last character, Abu Khaizuran, the man who offers to free the previous three of their land restraints.

Abu Qauis plans to escape after a detailed description of of his family and the life he has spent with them. His good friend Saad had escaped to Kuwait, and returned to tell him of all the benefits that come with the risk of the journey. His wife, though, doesn't like the idea or the risk involved. I probably would have agreed with his wife on this.

Assad is a young man trying to escape to Iraq and a marriage he wants no part in. He borrows money from his uncle, the same uncle who is trying to marry him to his daughter, in order to make the trip. He feels slightly remorseful about this, but only for a moment.

Marwans story was probably the one that I found to be the most interesting. His brother has escaped Kuwait, and married, forgetting about supporting his family. His father left many years before for a woman who was missing a leg, but had lots of inheritance money. I personally find this digesting, but cultural difference appear to make this acceptable

Abul Khaizuran is the one that brings the entire story together. He has possession of a lorry, a motor truck, and offers all three of these men safe passage out of Palestine, so they can all achieve the dreams they have. The mission appears like it will be successful, and I believe that Khaizuran is sincerely trying to help these men escape. He puts much effort into assuring they don't roast to death in the water tank of the lorry and he "doesn't slow the lorry down" for anything. It is only at the end when we see them rob the three dead corpses of their valuables, when I questioned whether or not he cared. The final line of the story, "Why didn't you knock on the sides of the tank?" left a chill to run up and down my spine. It seems almost sad how close these three seem to become, and how tragically the novella ends. I wasn't expecting the result and I was a little more than upset about it. My fairytale mind saw these men escaping and making better lives for themselves, but that would have been to perfect, and rarely do things end the way you want them to.