Scenes from Behind the Siege

Abstract: This essay explores books during war time. A man comes across a market table selling books, sparking an immediate reaction to their presence among the refugees. Before his displacement, the narrator fought an internal battle of whether to burn or preserve his library. One of the books on the table is written by his personal friend. He begins to question whether the books are his own. Maybe his home has been raided; what may have once been sacred to him has now been stolen or burned. The narrator asks the table owner where he received the books. The two have an honest and blunt conversation about the selling of items to people from which they have been stolen from. The merchant brings insight to the ways of his shoppers and daily experiences. The narrator ponders the work and survival of both the owner and the shoppers’ during wartime.