Palestinian Stories

All of the stories we were assigned to read for class had a unique and interesting perspective. Most of the stories described what life was like under occupation, and the experiences each of the character had in their personal struggles.

My favorite story that I read was "If You Were A Horse..." by Ghassan Kanafani. It is a father/son story, where the two struggle with their relationship, mainly because a lot of the time, the father tells the son that "if he were a horse, he would shoot him." Anyone looking in on this conversation should be greatly disturbed by its content. It is later that we learn about his father's love for horses, and his mother's tragic death when she was stomped by a horse. I thought the use of superstitions in the story really illustrated the point Kanafani was trying to send, which was the strength and power superstitions can have on a relationship. His father is afraid of the son because of a strange birthmark, similar to that of the horse that killed his mother. The son struggles with this and later blames himself for his father's death. This was the most suspenseful of the stories I read, because I really just wanted to understand why his father wanted to shot him, and it isn't until the end of the story that we understand why.

Another story I thought was interesting was "Stealing Away, We Returned" by Rasmi Abu Ali. This was a very brief story about occupation of what I am guessing to be Palestine, by the Jewish people. The narrator and her mother travel to remove some personal items from her deceased grandfather's house. On their return journey, they are stopped by men with machine guns, and the narrator describes the meeting as "we simply froze, knowing that our time had run out." I cannot ever imagine being confronted with that situation or how I would respond to having a gun pointed at me. These people were very brave for enduring what the did, and I commend each and everyone of them for the struggle and hardship they faced.

I also liked the story "A Hand In the Grave" by Kanafani. I didn't really understand the message or hidden meaning behind the story, but I found it more humorous than anything else. The narrator and his colleague decide to rob a grave in order to further their medical education. Upon doing so, Sahail, the narrators friend, sticks his arm in a dug up grave in order to grab the skeleton that has been buried there for many years. He goes historical, and later insane because he believes he stuck his fingers in the corpse's eyes. His reaction, at first scared me because I thought he was about to be eaten by some ancient zombie. I broke out laughing when I realized he was reacting this way because he touched its eyes. The character development in the story was very good, and I really enjoyed it.