Not a Single Movement

The character’s in Kanafani’s novella “Men in the Sun” are completely immersed in memories of the past and are constantly drawn back to their life in Palestine before the Nakba. The memory of the past is so strong that for Abu Qais the distinction between the past and the present has become difficult, this fluidity of time is mimicked by the form of the story it self where the temporal shifts are seamless, and these flashes are triggered by the merest of things.

Though the memory of their land is ever present they rarely ever talk of the shared experience they have of the exodus. Their conversations never venture far from the economical aspect of life, with nearly all conversations focused around making a fortune, or at least a decent living for themselves and their families. The focus of their conversations is entirely almost on the future, which appears before them as a mirage does in a desert.

This inability to talk about the past is important as it translates in to inaction, a lack of political motivation or participation to get back their lost land. Though always mobile (in attempts to get from one place to another) these men are struck with an intense immobility. As Abul Khaizuran, the lorry driver, say “I want to relax, to stretch out, to rest in the shade, thinking or not thinking. I don’t want to make a single movement.”

The question of this political inactivity of the Palestinian is symbolised at the end of the story where after dumping the bodies in the garbage heap Abul Khaizuran is struck with a thought “Why didn’t you knock on the sides of the tank? Why didn’t you bang on the sides of the tank? Why? Why? Why?” This line of questioning is not only in regards to the men in the tank but all Palestinians (all the men in the sun), who have suffered exile from their homes and have been thrust into the heat and humiliation of foreign lands, and yet have not spoken out against the injustice committed against them.