Displacement and Death in Gassan Kanafani’s Novel Men in the Sun: A Thematic Study

This study presents the Palestinian experience of displacement and death due to the impacts of the Israeli occupation over the Palestinian land. This research paper aims to trace the tragic predicament of the lives of the Palestinians through the literary narrative of Gassan Kanafani. This study analyses the novel Men in the sun by a Palestinian writer, Ghassan Kanafani in an attempt to explore the themes of displacement and death and its impacts upon Palestinians. It also shows the story of Palestinian people who suffered oppression, humiliation, deprivation and injustice. In the novel “Men in the Sun”, Kanafani reflects the hard consequences of military conflicts and compelled displacement for Palestinian people as well as their connections to their native environment. They appear as victims of the terror and chaos of the Israelian war on their land. The study also reviews the history of Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Moreover, it highlights the role of Ghassan Kanafani’s commitment to the Palestinian cause who tries to reflect the suffering of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are forced to leave their homeland escaping from death, cruelty and harshness practiced by Israeli occupation.