Democratic Palestine : 40 (ص 31)

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Democratic Palestine : 40 (ص 31)

المحتوى

stones and drought, waiting for
nature’s generosity or stinginess. Yet
he is willing to defend his modest plot
of land and die for it - for the sake of
human dignity alone. The peasant in
Kanafani’s view is a positive model.
He searches for an aesthetic formula-
tion of the peasant, creating him artis-
tically.
This humble and militant human
becomes a model for the human value
of justice. The beautifully rendered
character of Um Sa’ad is one example
of such a peasant. A strong woman
who defends her dignity tooth and
nail, her memory does not forget the
lessons of time. She rushes to the mis-
erable tent in the refugee camp to cart
out the dust and mud, and hurries to
the «new tent» to welcome the com-
mando who is moving nearer to the
land, thus exposing the traitors of
today and yesterday.
Kanafani is not enthralled with
abstractions and does not create
aesthetic heroes without a reason. He
does so in order to manifest the virtues
of revolution and resistance. It’s as
though one cannot approach true
beauty unless his views and behavior
approximate the peasants who carry
their land in their hearts and never
capitulate to their misery, nor to the
defeat they have faced.
Resistance is a pre-condition for
the existence of the human being who
is worthy of his humanity and the land
which grants him dignity and stability.
Kanafani chose to glorify the peasants
because they represent the struggling
masses. Historically, the peasants con-
stituted the majority of the Palestinian
population and were bound to the
land, always ready to defend it. They
carry in their hearts and minds the
popular national heritage and repre-
sent the embodiment of the national
culture, personifying the history and
civilization of Palestine. They are a
peculiar composite of «rain. olives,
guns, bread and white .cmeteries.
It is not by coincidence that Kana-
fani always dreamt of writing the milit-
ant history of the Palestinian peasants.
This is manifested in the unfinished
novel The Lover, where poetic collu-
sion is exhibited between the land
and the peasant. This creature with his
ragged kumbaz (peasant garment) and
beautiful adeptness, speaks to the
mare and the stone and appeals to the.
pastures, and they all reply, just as if
the difference between the human
being and nature had vanished. In The
Lover, the peasant and the land are
Democratic Palestine, July-August 1990
not detached; the land is in the peas-
ant, and the peasant is in the land.
They are one entity, entwined and
inseparable.
Although Kanafani did not finish
this novel, neither did he abandon the
original idea, incorporating it later in
Of Men and Rifles, where the peasant
from The Lover is reincarnated as a
new commando. This character is
somewhat different than the peasant in
the The Lover in his language, attire
and setting, for each have their own
time and history. This diversion is not
intrinsic, however, because the relation
between the two is not based on
weapons or costume, but on common
values shared by both. The first one as
well as the second is searching for his
land, history and identity, which is
restored through his struggle to
regain his land.
To Kanafani, the difference bet-
ween the homeland and exile is the
same as the difference between fertile
land and the desert. Whereas fertile
land is a metaphor for earthly
paradise, the desert, on the other
hand, is synonymous with death. If
relations are defined through their
antithesis, the barren and _ burning
desert is the opposite of the green and
fertile land. Hence the desert plays an
important role in Men in the Sun, it is
the stage on which’ the tragedy of exile
is performed. Leaving one’s country
can lead to the desert, where an undig-
nified death awaits. Perhaps the desert
is a severe punishment for leaving the
He | RR -
P ic” d
h
land; that is why Abu Qais remembers
the moisture of the land when he is
under the desert sun, comparing it to
paradise and his wife.
In All That is Left for You, Kana-
fani employs the symbol of the desert
again, situating the miserable camp in
the midst of it. Returning home
requires crossing the desert. This cros-
sing has a double meaning: on the one
hand, it indicates the great effort
needed to return and, on the other
hand, it reflects the imminent punish-
ment which besets Palestinians living in
camps in exile.
The eerie desert is silent and
frightening. It’s full of fear and sur-
prises, and is a constant reminder of
gratuitous death. It possesses an omin-
ous solitude in an open space with no
walls, all the while reflecting the qual-
ities of the land, human warmth and
the rhythm which expresses the time
and place.
The peasant in Kanafani’s litera-
ture is always a human being with a
simple consciousness - one who knows
the meaning of the land and defends
it. Therefore he sadly and often tragi-
cally seeks to acquire a weapon, how-
ever old or worn-out, even if it means
giving up his most valuable possessions
for it, as in The Cannon, or suffering
the most severe hardships, as in The
Bride.
In all these situations, the peasant
does not like weapons; he likes his
land which is his identity, his home-
land and his means of subsistence. @

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Democratic Palestine : 40

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