Endless Agony and Death in Diaspora: A Study of Abulhawa’s The Blue Between Sky And Water

Abstract

Nakba ‘Catastrophe’ draws a significant milestone in the history of the Palestinian literature, mainly in its issues, trajectories and concerns. It remains the inner traumatic moment of the Palestinian collective memory since 1948 until present. What happened during and after Nakba is thousands of Palestinians were forcibly displaced from Palestine and dispersed in different countries over the world. Such disastrous event created endless agony for Palestinians and forced them to live in several exiles. In exiles, they become homeless seek shelters and livelihood and wait to die as refugees. Their hope to return to their homeland becomes a sort of dream in their writings. This paper aims to examine The Blue Between Sky and Water, a novel by Susan Abulhawa, a Palestinian American novelist whose works focus on the Palestinian tragedy after Nakba. The significance of the present study springs from its focus on the Palestinian diasporic writings and examines a masterpiece narrative that has not been received enough attention from critics and researchers. Through the analysis of the novel, the study attempts to expose the Palestinians’ traumatic experiences and miseries; their resistance, struggle and hopes. It highlights the remarkable efforts made by the Palestinian writers to resist through literature, the Israeli occupation and encounter their Israeli narratives. It moreover, reveals the war crimes committed by Israelis in the occupied territories. The study is based on a descriptive analytical method and it has been guided by a number of historical studies which deal with the Palestinian issue and diaspora.