Topic > Personification of Jerusalem in 'Awlad Al-kaaba' and 'Face Lost in The Wilderness'

In the poems Awlad al-Kahba (Sons of a Bitch) by Mudhafar Al-Nawab and Face Lost in the Wilderness by Fadwa Tuqan, there is great commonality in each poet's personification of Jerusalem as a raped girl. Through each poet's perspective, both works reflect on the diminishment of Jerusalem through a gruesome occupation that has taken its toll on the land much as a rapist takes its toll on a victim. Both poems personify Jerusalem as a girl who is raped to demonstrate how the strain of the Israeli occupation on the city and the abandonment of the international community looks and feels. It is interesting to examine both poets' decisions to describe Jerusalem as a woman; however, although the depiction of Jerusalem as a raped girl is similar, the purpose and meaning of each differ from one poem to another. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayTuqan uses this as a mechanism to enhance his elegy and uses the brutality of the rape to emphasize the pain he feels from the brutality Jerusalem is experiencing. By describing Jerusalem as a “raped girl,” the vulnerability and helplessness Jerusalem feels under occupation is similar to that of a raped girl. In contrast, al-Nawab's poetry invokes a sense of revolution and a demand for justice. He compares the Arab rulers and Israeli occupiers who neglected the people of Palestine and Jerusalem to the rapists and victims as the “raped girl.” Tuqan and al-Nawab's poetry reflects the calamity caused by the 1948 war between the Arab states and Israel through their personal experience. As in many regional speeches, the connections between people and territory are described using metaphors relating to the speaker's personal experience. Face Lost in the Wilderness and Sons Of A Bitch exemplify this to the highest degree. Tuqan uses the analogy of the raped girl to express that the pain a raped girl feels is equivalent to the pain she feels for her lost homeland, while al-Nawwab uses the analogy of the raped girl to denounce the perpetrators responsible for the devastation of Jerusalem . Iraqi poet, Mudhafar al-Nawab incorporates political discourse into his poetry to interrogate narratives of hegemony and racism held by hostile forces. al-Nawwab was distressed by the full consequences of the Palestinian tragedy. Regardless of the somber tone of al-Nawab's poetry, the poet's diction is characterized by a sense of humor that aims to reduce the tension of a reader confronted with the absurd and tragic realities of Arab life. In “Son's of a Bitch” the poet criticizes the powerless Arab rulers accusing them of being responsible for the loss of Palestine: “Oh sons of bitches, Jerusalem is the bride of your Arab nationalism…” Al-Nawab tries to emphasize the Arab identity of the holy city as well as the brutality of the colonizers. “…because all night you sent adulterers into his bedroom while he cowered cowardly behind the door, watching the rape scene…” The sexual impotence and lack of virility on the part of the Arab rulers is symbolically stated by alluding to their reluctance to withdraw their swords and face the enemy. "...And listening to her cries and pleas for help as her virginity was violated, you all attempted to withdraw your swords." By paying particular attention to the use of female pronouns and the “she” character of Jerusalem, by portraying Jerusalem as a woman raped by the invaders, al-Nawab seeks to emphasizethe identity of Palestine and its holy city, as well as the brutality of the colonizers. The poet effectively visualizes the rape scene in which Jerusalem, a sacred symbol for Muslims, Christians and Jews, is kidnapped and ravaged by enemies "pretending to avenge her raped honor / instead of killing the rapists / you began to shout at her. .." portraying the Arab rulers as a cowardly group dominated by imperialist forces, the poet asserts the impossibility of liberating Palestine. “Sons of bitches/I must reveal your dirty reality…” He metaphorically compares the actions and negligence of Arab rulers and Israeli colonizers towards Jerusalem to that of a rapist “asking her to keep quiet and hide the scandal…” Subsequently insults the perpetrators and says: “shame on you, shame on all of you, sons of bitches…” Al-Nawab responds with a radical poetic speech, characterized by obscenity, anger and incendiary rhetoric that aims to awaken the collective Arab conscience. Al-Nawab emerges as an individual whose poetic discourse revolutionizes contemporary Arab thought. Al-Nawab articulates his criticisms and frustrations with Arab regimes using angry and obscene rhetoric towards the Israeli occupiers who have betrayed the cause of the Palestinian people. Using angry rhetoric and obscene language, Al-Nawab reflects his anger and frustration as he contemplates the absurd realities of contemporary Arab life. According to al-Nawab, simply because they are all pawns of imperialist forces and, in the absence of effective political will and vision, they paved the way for the Palestinian tragedy and the rape of Jerusalem. Describing Jerusalem as a woman raped by invaders in the presence of Arab rulers, al-Nawab argues that to promote feelings of contempt towards the perpetrators, the poem must effectively visualize a rape scene in which Jerusalem is kidnapped and ravaged by invading enemies . in the presence of all Arab rulers who are nothing but shameless eyewitnesses to the atrocity. In the context of Tuqan, his elegy “Face Lost in the Wilderness” expresses strong feelings regarding his love for the holy city, his sorrow over the city's occupation, and his eternal hope for its liberation. Here Jerusalem, the city of religions, is depicted as a beautiful girl with burnt fingers. This truly grotesque image points us to the already deformed woman that Jerusalem appears to be in Tuqan's eyes. He then goes on to say: “…nothing beats in the heart of the City but their bloody heels under which Jerusalem trembles like a raped girl…” The bloody heels of the beating Israeli soldiers can make the city tremble so this reminds Tuqan a terrified and raped girl. His use of this rape analogy paints a distressing picture that victimizes Jerusalem in the eyes of readers just as al-Nawwab does in Awlad al-Kahba. In the Old Testament the city of Jerusalem is personified as a woman and is called or called “the daughter of Zion”, always in a context full of feeling aroused by one of two opposing ideas: the destruction of Jerusalem or its liberation. For Palestinian poets, in particular, the city is part of a homeland to which they have clung, which has resisted invaders for decades and is associated with the land. In other words, the Palestinian city is part of a lost homeland that has resisted invaders for decades. The desire for a place, for a city, is eternal in Palestinian poetry and can never be attenuated because it has acquired the quality of an absolute. For poets, the city, the land, the village and the homeland are all integral parts of their lost and ever-sought dream..