Men in the sun

One of the first things I noticed about Men in the Sun is that it written by a Middle Easterner. I could tell this, not only from Ghassan Kanafani's name, but also from the way the story was written. The stories we have read thus far, for the most part, are written about Middle Easterners from the perspective of Westerners. These stories, including Othello and the Canterbury Tales, are therefore very biased and prejudiced. Men in the Sun, however, is told from the perspective of a Palestinian man in 20th century, making this story different from what we have read so far for two reasons. This is the first time we are looking to more modern times to see what exactly is going on in the Middle East.

Now I have to say that as I read Men in the Sun, I was constantly confused. We were warned that the names would be confusing to keep up with, but I was also completely lost several times because Kanafani kept switching back and forth between present time and things that happened in the past. I was definitely not a fan of his writing style.

One part of Men in the Sun that stood out to me in particular was in the chapter entitled "Assad". On page 21, the wife is driving with the husband (I'm pretty sure it doesn't say their names), and she sees what she thinks is a fox. The husband tells her it is a rat, but the wife insists:
"...This desert is full of rats. What on earth do they eat?"
He answered quietly:
"Rats smaller than them."
"Really?" said the girl. "It's frightening. Rats themselves are horrible, frightening animals."
The fat man who owned the office said:
"Rats are horrible animals..."

A little while later, at the end of the chapter on page 22, the wife says again:
"But take care the rats don't eat you before you set out."

It is very clear to me that the "rats" are actually a metaphor for mankind. The world in which these people are living is a "do-or-die" type of environment. they must do whatever it takes to survive. It is every man for himself. If someone is smaller or weaker than yourself, there is a chance that you will prevail and they won't, simple enough.

I think this whole section of the story was hugely important. It set the stage for the rest of the story, setting up the "weakest link" type of picture we get throughout the rest of the story.