Men In The Sun

The story Men In The Sun was a very interesting read for me. This was the first piece of oriental literature where I felt as though it was real. In the stories we've read before there was always some type of magic or something that disconnected them from reality. With Men In The Sun however the story pulled me in and made me believe in the characters and their situations. I have to say that I am very satisfied with this read. I gave me a whole new perspective of the world and the people in it from the views of the Orient. Like Othello did before, this story's ending has left me in shock, and I feel as though there is this void that the story left empty on purpose.

I really liked how the story gave all of it's characters life through their memories. they weren't introduced and used throughout the story to progress the plot or anything superficial like that. Abu Qais, Assad, Marwan, and Abul Khaizuran all had a past and a reason for why they were where they were. Each one represented different views, opinions, and experience's yet they were all the same in that all they wanted to do was get to Kuwait. The characters made you feel their struggle and understand their reasons so well that I really did feel sad for them by the end, even Abul Khaizuran.

Above is a picture of Ghassan Kanafani, the writer of Men In The Sun. I was surprised to find out that he was killed by a car bomb in 1972.