The Symbolic Structure and Narrative Art of the Female Character in Ghassan Kanafani's Novels and Stories

Abstract

This study, entitled The Symbolic Structure and Narrative Art of the Female Character in Ghassan Kanafani's Novels and Stories, attempts to analyze the image of Palestinian women in Ghassan Kanafani's literature from a new critical perspective Instead, he has placed women as a complex “intellectual and artistic structure” in his texts, in which women become a great symbol of the country, suffering, and resistance.

Based on structuralism, especially the views of Gerard Genet and Hamid al-Hamidani, the study highlights how Kanafani has transformed women from “silent victims” and “traditional mothers” to “political actors” and “revolutionary symbols”. The study responds to criticisms that Kanafani marginalizes women, and proves with textual evidence that women in Kanafani literature are an essential genre for the maintenance of Palestinian national identity and struggle.

The study consists of two discussions: the first is devoted to the study of women as symbols of the country and political issues, and the second is to analyze the narrative structure. Finally, the study concludes that by creating an eternal connection between the “woman's body” and the “land of Palestine”, Kanafani is able to provide a literary discourse in which women appear as the main pillar of survival and defense.