like Abu Adil. Moreover, Abu Adil quite literally sucks the family dry as his dialysis machine requires constant service, forcing Adil to take the higher paying job in Israel in the first place. He brings down the energy within the family home, offering nothing but criticism and yet offering no solutions. Emblematic of the ideas of the older, upper-class generation, Abu Adil comes to be against both Adil and Basil’s forms of resistance. Basil and Usama’s use of violence remains too extreme, while Adil brings shame upon his father by supporting the family in Israel. He says, “‘You see how this prodigal brat looks at me? Lower your eyes, boy, don’t you dare give me those insolent stares. This whole generation’s rotten. God curse all who planted
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Basil notices his complete parasitic actions and bravely stands up to his father, thus standing for the younger generation. Moreover, Abu Adil’s sentiment about the younger generation is indicative of the lack of openness among Palestinians. Usama notices this difference among the generations too, as he remarks, “Was this, then, the new generation? Then there was hope for the future. It would be among these young people that the spark would be ignited” (Khalifeh 60). In viewing the older noble members of society in respect to the younger generation of varying stations, the differing ways of thinking create intense divisions among the people. Arguably, the generational gap among the Palestinian people propagates just as great of a disintegration of solidarity as the class conflict does.
A major distinction exists between the ways in which Abu Adil and Um Usama view the occupation and the ways in which the young people …show more content…
When walking through the streets with Adil he says, “Ours, yours; the important thing is that you’ve changed. Is this an occupation or a disintegration” (Khalifeh 28)? Unattached to the Palestinian people he sees before him, Usama’s difficulty in understanding their way of thinking becomes his Achilles heel. He presents a fascinating dichotomy of inner conflict about the nature of the resistance and utter ignorance to the world around him. He craves to be the hero of the working class and yet becomes offended at Abu Shahada for not recognizing his higher class. He wants to be recognized as a part of the aristocracy and feels anger towards those who go over into Israel to work because he views the act as being below their station. “As if the everydayness of living under the imposed structures and institutions of occupation turns victims into complicitous participants” (Abu Manneh 125). Usama sees all of these workers, including Adil, as complicit and willing in the Israeli occupation and it disgusts him to the point where he feels no shame in blowing up his own people. Simultaneously living in two worlds soon becomes Usama’s downfall, but his journey there shows a major flaw embedded in those on the outside of the conflict looking in. He sees survival as not getting food on the table, but as fighting back against occupation. His state of delusion and failure to put
Basil notices his complete parasitic actions and bravely stands up to his father, thus standing for the younger generation. Moreover, Abu Adil’s sentiment about the younger generation is indicative of the lack of openness among Palestinians. Usama notices this difference among the generations too, as he remarks, “Was this, then, the new generation? Then there was hope for the future. It would be among these young people that the spark would be ignited” (Khalifeh 60). In viewing the older noble members of society in respect to the younger generation of varying stations, the differing ways of thinking create intense divisions among the people. Arguably, the generational gap among the Palestinian people propagates just as great of a disintegration of solidarity as the class conflict does.
A major distinction exists between the ways in which Abu Adil and Um Usama view the occupation and the ways in which the young people …show more content…
When walking through the streets with Adil he says, “Ours, yours; the important thing is that you’ve changed. Is this an occupation or a disintegration” (Khalifeh 28)? Unattached to the Palestinian people he sees before him, Usama’s difficulty in understanding their way of thinking becomes his Achilles heel. He presents a fascinating dichotomy of inner conflict about the nature of the resistance and utter ignorance to the world around him. He craves to be the hero of the working class and yet becomes offended at Abu Shahada for not recognizing his higher class. He wants to be recognized as a part of the aristocracy and feels anger towards those who go over into Israel to work because he views the act as being below their station. “As if the everydayness of living under the imposed structures and institutions of occupation turns victims into complicitous participants” (Abu Manneh 125). Usama sees all of these workers, including Adil, as complicit and willing in the Israeli occupation and it disgusts him to the point where he feels no shame in blowing up his own people. Simultaneously living in two worlds soon becomes Usama’s downfall, but his journey there shows a major flaw embedded in those on the outside of the conflict looking in. He sees survival as not getting food on the table, but as fighting back against occupation. His state of delusion and failure to put