The Lonely Struggle

In the book, Wild Thorns, the author, Sahar Khalifeh, describes a truly compelling story of how the lives of some Palestinians are affected under Israeli occupation. While having to adjust to a new military government's set of rules, curfews, supervision, and employment, some characters in the story remain hopeful that the occupation will soon end and the conflicts will be resolved. Whereas others are more concerned with providing the best they can for their families, struggling in keeping their families alive. It is apparent in the story that the Palestinian people share the burden of feeling like a separated region, forgotten by the rest of the Arab world as Israel continues to envelop them. Whether it's Usama's journey back to his unrecognizable homeland, Adil's lonely struggle to provide for his family, or the solitude of prison life, each character portrays a sense of isolation, even while in the company of other people.

The novel begins by describing Usama's homecoming to a Palestine much different than when he left. His ordeal through the customs border is the first instance of isolation while surrounded by others. In trying to simply return home, he is made to feel like a criminal by foreign officers who incessantly interrogate him. Though his experience through the border was lighter than others more unfortunate, he left feeling like a "prisoner in the genie's bottle," separated from his fellow countrymen (Khalifeh 19). Upon arriving to the West Bank, he continued to refer to the area as "your streets," isolating himself from his homeland (Khalifeh 28). His perception seemed to be confirmed when he visited his childhood farm, in which the elderly farmhand failed to remember who he was. Usama left feeling confused and alone in a deteriorating country that no one else seemed to care to remedy. His family and peers further induced his isolation by not sharing with him his liberating views for Palestine. "There was no way he could get through to Adil," whose biggest concern was providing for nine people and his father's kidney machine (Khalifeh 86). As hard as he tried to connect with Adil, Usama remained oblivious of his cousin's desperate struggle.

When some one is the oldest son in the family, he takes on the burden of providing for every one if the father should ever become unable to do so. Adil took on this responsibility when his father was in poor health. "He's on the go from sun-up to sundown…but he doesn't complain" (Khalifeh 31). On the inside, however, Adil felt like a prisoner to his family, afraid that if he ever gave up the struggle, it would be the end of the Karmi clan. Furthermore, his father's sickness was slowly deteriorating him also, like "the grip of a virus clinging to a healthy cell" (Khalifeh 51). Adil often repeated being the sole provider, or slave rather, for nine people and kidney machine. His only method of escape from his misery was by drowning his sorrows at the bars. Besides, Usama's revolutionary ideas of liberation were less important to Adil than letting his family go hungry. This view was shared by some of Adil's friends who worked with him inside Israel, although not as strongly. Zuhdi, in particular, had a wife and children to support, but he released his frustration on an Israeli coworker at the factory. His actions sent him to prison, in which loneliness and separation truly set in.

Life in prison can be lonely, to say the least. Upon the first night arriving to his cell, Zuhdi deeply regretted what he had done at the factory. Since the other prisoners knew that he had been working in Israel, he was made to feel like an outcast. "Zuhdi felt terribly alienated, a sensation worse than the loneliness he'd felt during his five days of solitary confinement" (Khalifeh 127). Eventually his cellmates began to befriend him, and Zuhdi learned of others who felt far more alone. For instance, the Syrian had gone for five years without seeing anyone. He left for the resistance operation when his wife was pregnant with his son, and had been hoping for his family to visit him ever since. "If I didn't have that hope, my life would be as miserable as your face, Zuhdi" (Khalifeh 143). Being isolated from your family resembles the struggle that Palestine feels towards the rest of its Arab neighbors.

These select characters represent Palestine's struggle to survive while feeling cut off from those that surround them. As Israel continues its occupation, Palestinians are left helpless and alone, like prisoners controlled by ruthless authorities, or slaves to the welfare of their own country.