A handful of dates

A Handful of Dates

Children like to copy their favorite character. They imagine

themselves to be like that person when they get big. Like this, a young boy , the

main character of the story, “A Handful of Dates”, by Tayeb Saleh, imagine

himself to be like his grandfather, when he get big. The story describes the

childhood of a young boy, who does the things children typically do, go to school,

attend religious services, plays outside, and spends time with his favorite family

member, his grandfather. Although the boy loves his grandfather and considers him

as a great man, the boy realizes, through his treatment of his neighbor Masood,

that he is a greedy man, and doesn’t like him anymore.

Early in the story, the boy loves nature. The boy loves to go to the

mosque every morning to learn Quran. He also loves to swim in the river and

play in the field. The boy says, “The mosque, the river, and the fields - these were

the landmarks in our life”(p-1,para-1).He also says, “…I loved the river

too”(p1,para-2).In other words, the boy love the river as well as his village nature.

The boy was idealistic about his grandfather and wanted to be like him.

His relationship with his grandfather was very close. The boy says, “I loved to

give rein to my imagination and picture myself a tribe of giants living behind that

wood, a people tall and thin with white beards and sharp noses, like my

grandfather”(p-1,para-2).In his imagination he thinks about his grandfather, and

says, “ when I grew to be a man, tall and slender like him, walking along with great strides”(p-1,para-2).He thinks himself to be like his grandfather when he gets

big.

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