The Power of Irony in Two Short Stories
In Sayed Kashua’s short story “Without
Parents,” he writes that his daughter asked him about the origins of her name,
and was disappointed by the fact that it came from the name of a musical
instrument – a name mentioned in a poem and a song, but without connection to the
family’s history. It was not a name from the Bible, and demonstrated none of her
family’s roots within the country, giving her little to work with for her school
project about family history and roots within Israel/Palestine. Kashua notes
that this presented an issue because his daughter was the only Arab in her
grade, and if she could not demonstrate roots her Israeli classmates would use
the fact to advance their argument that Israelis, and not Palestinians, had
claim to the land due to ancestry that went back the farthest. To resolve this
issue, Kashua tells his daughter that her name is a “musical instrument that
was especially beloved by the Canaanites” (Kashua 4). When his daughter askes if
Canaanites is spelled with a C or a K, he states that it is spelled with a C,
and that she should take note carefully and respectfully, because they are discussing
her “forefathers here, goddam it!” (Kashua 4).
The solution and remarks given by Kashua
seem to hold a great deal of irony, and it is in this irony that the message of
his story exists. The right to existence within a land has nothing to do with
how far one’s ancestry goes back, and thus his daughter’s roots project – an
almost childish way of proving a point, and thus one that should not be taken so
seriously – can be answered in an equally tongue-in-cheek manner. To Kashua, it
seems, the idea of ancestry proving a right to the land requires grasping at
straws in an attempt to prove fact and create legend (even for those with
supposedly strong roots), and so the creation of yet another legend about roots
for the project is well justified. Roots have no real hold over the current
conflict in Israel/Palestine, and so should not be brought into the conversation.
Kashua also writes that “we of all people –
who are so stuck here that we never bothered to find out our origins – will come
out lacking roots” (Kashua 3). This seems to indicate that he feels a strong
sense of belonging to Israel/Palestine, as his family feels “so stuck here,” or
so rooted to the land, that they never bothered to find out their origins
because they felt that they belonged (Kashua 3). The words could also indicate
the struggle of Arabs within Israel, who are “so stuck” in their predicament
that they have no time to delve into roots (thereby demonstrating yet another unjust
circumstance). With either meaning, the idea of roots necessitates not a record
of family history, but the creation of a story grand “enough for a myth,”
thereby justifying the ironic creation of just such a myth for his daughter’s
namesake (Kashua 3).
Like Kashua, author Etgar Keret uses irony in his short story “Intention,” in which the protagonist, Yechiel-Nachman, prays for marriage, livelihood, good health, and peace in Israel. His prayers go unanswered for 20 years, and when the October 7 Hamas Attack results in the death of hundreds of Israelis, he goes to his rabbi and says that he has lost his faith, to which the rabbi replies that Yechiel must have not been praying with “true and whole intention” (Keret). So Yechiel begins to pray with all of his being, and achieves a feeling of wholeheartedness, boundless selflessness, and spiritual elevation that he has never experienced before. When two of the hostages taken by Hamas are returned, Yechiel believes himself responsible for their return due to his prayers, and begins to pray for marriage and parenthood.
While praying, Yechiel falls and hits his head. Although the neighbor who bandages his headwound tells
him he should see a doctor, Yechiel says that he will be fine and instead goes
to the grocery store where he has a good conversation with a woman he likes. He
goes to bed feeling like he has finally learned how to ask God for what he wants,
and ends up dying of his injury that night. The doctor who examines him postmortem
says that if Yechiel would only have gone to the emergency room and gotten his
wound examined, he would have lived. Meanwhile, in heaven, Yechiel experiences
a world in which everything is “wholly good,” and in which he spends “hours upon
hours deep in conversation with the Creator,” speaking about all of the “complaints
and disgruntlements of all human beings” (Keret). There, Keret writes, God
listens with “infinite patience” and nods “His head compassionately,” listening
to Yechiel “even when He [has] not the faintest idea what Yechiel-Nachman [is]
talking about” (Keret).
Unlike in Kashua’s story, the irony displayed
in Keret’s tale is embedded within the storyline, rather than present only in
direct quotes. It is particularly present in the fact that Yechiel died after
thinking he had finally achieved a true connection to God, and in so doing
gained one. And it is present in the description of God listening to Yechiel, even
if it is in confusion. Like with Kashua’s story, it is through this irony that
the meaning of “Intention” seems to be held. The story seems to allude to the fallacy
in believing so strongly in one’s connection to God that you don’t listen to those
around you (as seen when Yechiel didn’t visit the doctor). This idea could be
extended to the Israel/Palestine conflict, in which members of each side are so
caught up in their own feeling of connection to God and to the land that they are
unwilling to listen to one another.
The story’s meaning is further
strengthened by Keret’s words that God had “not the faintest idea” what Yechiel
was talking about when he spoke about the issues of humanity (Keret). This
seems to indicate that while Yechiel thought that God did not pay attention to
humanity’s woes, it is possible that attention was paid and solutions were enacted,
but because Yechiel did not see the immediate miracles he expected he was blind
to God’s actions (as, in going to see a doctor rather than thinking God would
take care of him, God might have taken care of Yechiel by allowing the doctor
to heal him). Thus, God might have been confused about the woes of humanity
because solutions had already been presented, and humanity had simply failed to
recognize them and take action. Another possible meaning of God’s confusion
about Yechiel’s words could be that God is out of touch with the issues of the
mortal world, and thus that it is up to humanity to enact change. Taking either
meaning, it seems that Keret is attempting to illustrate that you can speak
about change as much as you want, but must take action yourself for this change
to actually come about.
Citations
Kashua, Sayed. “Without Parents.” 19 Oct
2012.
Keret, Etgar. “Intention: A Short Story Written
in the Aftermath of Hamas’s 7 October Attack on Israel.” The Guardian, 3
Dec 2023. https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/03/intention-a-short-story-written-in-the-aftermath-of-hamass-7-october-attack-on-israel-by-etgar-keret
https://toolkit.theicenter.org/content/stories-happy-endings/index.html
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