‘Men in the Sun’ and ‘The Corpse Washer’, Essay Example

‘Men in the Sun’ is a narrative featuring three Palestinian refugees in a camp in Lebanon planning an escape to Kuwait to seek job. They do not have travelling documents and uses empty water tanks to hide themselves and go through checkpoints easily. The book analyzes the then political situation in Palestine. The fact that the refugees were citizens of Palestine reveals that the condition for settlement in the country was not that favorable to many of the Palestinians. Besides, the rate of unemployment was so high that some of the citizens wished to move to other countries where they could find jobs of working in oil wells. The kinds of treatment they get from the driver who has planned to smuggle them is harsh and they all end up dying in the process. Being kept in water tanks and travelling across a hot desert makes the process unbearable. The conditions they travel in is much worse than the suffering they faced at the refugee camp. The book elaborates the political instability of Palestine during the mid-20^th century era.

‘Corpse washer’ is a story with its settings in Baghdad featuring a young boy Jawad who wishes to go against the normal family tradition of being a corpse washer. He becomes a sculptor and wants to celebrate life and not death. Nonetheless, Saddam Hussein’s totalitarianism as well as the economic sanctions gives a leeway for the war which ends up destroying the society’s socioeconomic fabrics. He ends up being a corpse washer due to increased demand of corpse washers. Analytically, the story portrays the effect of war in the Middle East. The families have no option but to look for any option of getting income. In addition, the people are used to war such that they have become creative and earn a living through the war. Finally, ending the war is hard for an individual or a group of people. It requires the whole nation and intervention of other countries. This is symbolized by Jawad’s effort to celebrate life in becoming a sculptor rather than a corpse washer.