Umm Saad Explained
| Umm Sad |
| Title Orig: | أم سعد |
| Orig Lang Code: | ar |
| Author: | Ghassan Kanafani |
| Language: | Arabic |
| Genre: | Novella |
| Pub Date: | 1969 |
| Pages: | 78 |
Umm Saad (ar|أم سعد /) is a novella written by fiction writer and journalist Ghassan Kanafani. The book discusses themes of war, patience, and resistance through a first point of view perspective. Upon its release, its political and social themes were generally praised.
Background
The character Umm Saad is real, as she lived with Kanafani's family for many years, and represents Palestinian revolutionary women, in specific Palestinian mothers who "give birth to children only for them to became part of the Fedayeen eventually, experiencing fear and pain of loss",[1] along with Palestinians suffering due to war overall.[2] [3] [4]
Characters
- Umm Saad: A strong Palestinian woman, and the narrator's cousin in the story; they lived together for many years in al-Ghabasiya until she moved to camps, where she'd visit them every Tuesday.
- Saad: Umm Saad's son. They live far from each other due to the fact he went with the Fedayeen, along with getting arrested.
Notes and References
- Book: Kanafani, Ghassan . Umm Sad . Rimal Publications . 2013 . Cyprus . Arabic . ar:أم سعد.
- Neimneh . Shadi . December 2021 . The "Motherland": An Archetypal and Postcolonial Reading of Ghassan Kanafani's Umm Saad . Jordan Journal of Modern Languages and Literatures . 13 . 4 . 681-700 . 10.47012/jjmll.13.4.5.
- Book: Jetter . Alexis . The Politics of Motherhood: Activist Voices from Left to Right . Orleck . Annelise . Taylor . Diana . 1997 . UPNE . 978-0-87451-780-4 . en.
- "There Is Always the Other Side, Always": Women's Voice and Identity in Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea and Kanafani's Umm Saad . 8 March 2024 . Aya . Halabi . ECAH2021 . IAFOR.
