The book I read for this assignment is titled The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East and was written by Sandy Tolan (2006). This book focuses on the development of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the stories of the Khairi and Eshkenazi families. The setting is the Palestinian town of al-Ramla (Ramla in Hebrew) in the Khairi household. In 1948, the family fled their home when Israeli troops captured the town ahead of the Arab-Israeli War. Nineteen years later in 1967, Bashir Al-Khairi returns to the house he grew up in to discover that an Israeli named Dalia and her family has lived there since his family left. The book illustrates their unique friendship that forms over their differences. While reading
this book, I learned much that I didn’t know about the Arab culture. I am familiar with Israeli history and culture as I am Jewish, but I had never thought about the Arab perspective to the events that shaped Israel. For example, after a successful defense against Israeli forces, Bashir’s father decides that “It was too dangerous to let Zakia and the children stay in the city. Despite Sheikh Mustafa’s pleas that no one should abandon al-Ramla, Ahmad would take no more chances. He hired two cars to take the family east, through the hills of Palestine to Ramallah…But staying would be more risky than leaving” (p. 58). I always think of the Jews facing adversity because of the Holocaust and that Israel was a place for all Jews to come together, but reading this book has allowed me to keep an open mind when I listen to the news. There are many themes discussed in this book, including nationalism and the formation of national identity and the search for objective truth. Both of these themes are evident in a conversation between Bashir and Dalia. " ‘Okay, Bashir, I live in your home,’ Dalia said finally. ‘And this is also my home. It is the only home I know. So, what shall we do?’ ‘You can go back where you came from,’ Bashir said calmly…She was struck by the total contradiction of her situation: complete disagreement across a seemingly unbridgeable gulf, combined with the establishment of a bond through a common history, in a house where she felt utterly protected and welcomed. At the base of it all, Dalia felt the depth of the Khairis' gratitude for her having simply opened the door to the house in Ramla.” (p. 161).
Critics have already begun a heated debate over the success of the book that has addressed both its strengths and weaknesses. The debate may rage for a few years but it will eventually fizzle out as the success of the novel sustains. The characters, plot, emotional appeal, and easily relatable situations are too strong for this book to crumble. The internal characteristics have provided a strong base to withstand the petty attacks on underdeveloped metaphors and transparent descriptions. The novel does not need confrontations with the Middle East to remain a staple in modern reading, it can hold its own based on its life lessons that anyone can use.
Joyce, James. “Araby”. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Eds. R.V. Cassill and Richard Bausch. Shorter Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2000. 427 - 431.
Joyce, James. “Araby.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter Eighth Edition. Eds. Jerome Beaty, Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. New York: W.W.Norton.
But, as Sandy Tolan 's book, The Lemon Tree, seeks to explain, through Dalia’s longing for zion and Bashir’s belief in the arab right of return, that the main catalyst of the Arab-Israeli conflict is
Joyce, James. "Araby." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 1986.
It has been such a joy reading “The Norton Introduction to Literature” by Kelly J. Mays. Of all the stories that I was assigned to read, one story in particular stood out to me because of how the author used words to create a vivid image in my mind. The story I’m talking about is “Araby” by James Joyce. James Joyce does a great job creating vivid images in the readers mind and creates a theme that most of us can relate. In this paper I will be discussing five scholarly peer reviewed journals that also discusses the use of image and theme that James Joyce created in his short story “Araby”. Before I start diving into discussing these five scholarly peer review journals, I would like to just write a little bit about “Araby” by James Joyce. James Joyce is an Irish writer, mostly known for modernist writing and his short story “Araby” is one of fifteen short stories from his first book that was published called “Dubliners”. Lastly, “Araby” is the third story in Dubliners. Now I will be transitioning to discussing the scholarly peer review journals.
Although “Araby” is a fairly short story, author James Joyce does a remarkable job of discussing some very deep issues within it. On the surface it appears to be a story of a boy's trip to the market to get a gift for the girl he has a crush on. Yet deeper down it is about a lonely boy who makes a pilgrimage to an eastern-styled bazaar in hopes that it will somehow alleviate his miserable life. James Joyce’s uses the boy in “Araby” to expose a story of isolation and lack of control. These themes of alienation and control are ultimately linked because it will be seen that the source of the boy's emotional distance is his lack of control over his life.
An assortment of monolithic and cultural presence gives Midaq Alley the well-earned reputations of one of the lost treasures of Cairo. The fine stone-paved surface ran directly to the Sandiqiya Street. However, time mad Midaq Alley a poor, destitute, side-street alley neighborhood, where most of the inhabitants strive for bigger and better things but against a world that is against them. The Second World War did not begin in Egypt, but just like the United States of America it was eventually come knocking on their door! Bombing raids occurred but were now a scarce occurrence. Midaq Alley is set during the 40’s when the British Army has taken a defensive position against the Nazis in the city of Cairo. Throughout the whole novel characters are brought to life by the author Naguib Mahfouz although the story conspires only a few main characters. Kirsha, is a soft owner of the café in Midaq Alley. Kirsha’s wife Mrs. Kirsha beats him, and a son Hussain Kirsha grew up with Abbas and they are friends but also rivals, Hussain Kirsha also shows signs of greed. Abbas is a slightly heavy, average height, and a life long Midaq Alley resident who loves Midaq Alley. He and Uncle Kamil share an apartment and Abbas is the local barber at his shop. Abbas is also a young man who wants to marry Hamida, she says yes but he can not afford it so he joins the British Army. Hamida has a lust for wealth and men with wealth, when Abbas is gone she marries Salim Alwan a rich entrepreneur who owns a store on Midaq Alley. Salim Alwan’s business even is profitable during time of war, because he is invoved in black market deals operates on the black market. His wife has gotten older and doesn’t get him going sexually anymore, so he began to go after ...
The book starts off in a poor village where Mariam lives with her mother, Nana. Her father, Jalil, is a very wealthy man from Herat who visits her once a week. Since Mariam was born, her mother has always called her names. Nana constantly told her she was a worthless bastard because her father had an affair with his servant, who was Nana at the time. After Nana found out she was pregnant, Jalil and his three wives kicked her out, as it would hurt their reputation. Since Mariam is a girl, no one saw any value in her. Mariam soon learns the truth after she sneaks off to her father’s house to meet him despite her mother’s wishes. At her father’s house she is told to go home as her father is away on a business trip. Mariam refuses to leave and is forced to sleep outside, poorly treated. In the morning, she goes to the yard and sees Jalil’s face in the window, shocked to understand her mother was right all along. When Mariam returns home to apologize to Nana, she finds her dead body hanging. After her mother’s death, Jalil and his three wives force fifteen year old Mariam to marry forty-five year old shoemaker, Rasheed.
The three men in this novel represent the people who abandoned their homeland in search for a better life. This is what happens to people who abandon their homeland, their death is a shameful and undignified death not like the people who die defending their country where they are honored and looked up to. Abul Khaizuran represents the leader who betrays his people by promising them to fulfill their dreams but instead he led them to their death and he only cared to fulfill his personal needs. The road represents the struggle of life the characters go through to reach their dreams and the desert represents the obstacles that keep them for achieving the dreams. The three men had to knock to be saved but the never knocked, the Palestinians need to raise their voice in order to be heard just like knocking on the tank.
Cheshin, Amir S. Separate and Unequal, the Inside Story of Israel Rule in East Jerusalem. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1999.
This book is about a girl who stood up for education and women rights. When Malala was born her father seen something special in her, he put her in the family tree which was only reserved for men in her culture. Ziauddin, her father felt that she would be something great in life. She went after what she wanted even while being scare out of her life at one point.
This story is focused on one family in the town of Kafr El Teen, especially on the woman of the family. Zakeya and Kafrawi are Brother and sister and the oldest of the house. Karfrawi's daughters also live with them, Zeinab, and Nefissa's. Also at one point Galal, Zakeys son lived with them ( also Zeinabs husband ). This family is put through many struggles mostly placed upon them by the Mayor of the town, who has an obsession with the daughters of Karfawi.
There, they have to fight with everything only to survive their dreams of a better livelihood. The novel has got one of the beautiful landscapes, the Sundarbans, as its background. On the surface level the novel is about the life of Kanai Dutt, a middle aged linguist who runs a translation bureau in Delhi, and his acquaintance with a young cetologist from U S, Piyali Roy. But on the deeper level, the novel is a history; the history of the place and the history of the