Essay Questions

Explain the ending of the poem "Hamza’’.

At the end of the poem ‘’Hamza’’, the house belonging to the main character, Hamza, is destroyed by the people who want Hamza to leave the land. A day later, Hamza is seen walking through the town, as happy and as unbothered as ever. The house blown up represents the country in which Hamza lived and Hamza is used here as a symbol for the Palestinian people. When Hamza’s house is blown up, this represents the Palestinian country. However, the events described at the end of the poem are meant to transmit the idea that the Palestinian people will never give up and will continue going thought life as if nothing happened.

Why does the narrator mention the idea of giving birth in most of her poems?

The poems were written by Palestinian women who lived in a society where the main purpose of a woman was to give birth and to have children. Giving birth is seen in those societies as the right thing to do and the pregnant woman is seen as being more valuable than a woman who is not pregnant. Pregnancy and the act of giving birth also transmits the idea of unity, family and fertility, elements promoted by the Palestinian state.

What symbolizes the tree used in the poem "The Deluge and the Tree’’’?

In the poem mentioned above, the narrator talks about how the world rejoiced seeing the great tree fall to the ground and think it is destroyed. The narrator refuses to admit this and claims instead that the roots of the tree are still intact and thus have the capability to come back to life and to make the tree grow once more and flourish. The tree is used in this context as a symbol for the Palestinian people. Just like a tree, they had fallen because of the wars they were subjected to. Their roots however remained intact and the people never lost the hope they will one day grow again and rise as they once were.