Bread Of Sacrifice Analysis

Palestine during the 1950s-1970s was overcoming great obstacles and many political changes, changes that have impacted the social and cultural climate of the area. During this time frame, Israel became a recognized country, illegally occupying Palestinian territory and showing no efforts to stop, and the Six-Day war also occurred during this time period, not only affecting Palestine but other surrounding Arab countries. One of the many ways that Palestinian’s expressed resistance towards the occupation was through art, the art of storytelling. Palestinian author’s depicted personal experiences relating to events that occurred in this time span, primarily focusing on the effects of the occupation on Palestinian identity along with underlying
Hasan felt weak and defenseless, depicting a common trend for Palestinian males that were also under great pressure to ensure the safety of their family members. Another one of Azzam’s works, “Bread of Sacrifice”, also discusses the theme of gender, but with a stronger focus on the female gender. Not many writers focused on the role of Palestinian women, but in the “Bread of Sacrifice”, Su’ad, a nurse at a local hospital, is the main and most dominating character in the story. The “Bread of Sacrifice”, contains a stronger love-based plot than other works during this time, but it has an interesting twist in that the female character controls every scene. Su’ad’s dominance is evident from her first encounter with Ramiz where she left him at a loss for words after she exerted her dominant and confident capabilities of being a nurse (Azzam, pg …). Further along in the story, as the love between Su’ad and Ramiz grows, Su’ad’s character reveals that she is caring in a sense that goes beyond a typical role of a nurse. Her role in the story is not to be just a nurse or a love interest for Ramiz, but in a way, she encompasses the beauty of Palestine. She
Kanafani, also an Acre native, who’s book was published a little after Azzam’s “Solomon’s Pool”, tells a narrative of three Palestinian men trying to leave Iraq and head to Kuwait for a better source of financial income to support their families. Though they cannot cross the border and various checkpoints due to their stateless status they require the assistance of a smuggler, who is known as Abdul Khaizuran, who agrees to take the three men across the border to Kuwait. Abdul Khaizuran may not be facing the same financial crisis that these men are in, but he certainly is dealing with a personal battle of his own. Kanafani’s use of gender is far different than Azzam’s in that he introduces masculinity fragility in a different context, emasculation. Abdul Khaizuran was punished by having his genitals removed and throughout the story seems to face a great deal of emotional pain. Something of high importance and value to his identity of a man was removed and all because he was defending his country. Abdul Khaizuran describes feelings of humiliation and overall hopelessness as he states that he “ had lost his manhood and his country, and damn everything in this bloody world” (Kanafani, pg 53). Kanafani’s creative use of gender to depict Palestinian struggle under occupation is one that displays his artistic abilities and strong