Literary Analysis of the Final Story: The Mother of Ehud (Essay Sample)

Literary Analysis of the Final Story: ‘The Mother of Ehud’
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Literary Analysis of the Final Story: ‘The Mother of Ehud’
In this last story, Ahmad presents the character Bani as an eleven year old boy. The boy has lost closeness with his Tayta and he is repulsed by her due to her illnesses. Ahmad uses a number of literary techniques to capture the attention of the reader into the story. First, he uses words that have intense connection with people’s feelings thus drawing the attention of the reader. During the course of the day, he presents the audience with the death of Tayta and the intense pain and grief that follows. He use Bani as a spectator to all that is happening on this day, thus letting the audience into the underlying tensions that came with this funeral (Ahmad, 2014).
Secondly, the playwright uses internal conflict as a literary tool in this story. Bani experience distinct distance with the remaining members of his family. Although he had knowledge of the communities and cultures around him, he struggled not to be different. He portrays self-awareness than other characters in the story, but he narrates it in a way that the audience immediately spots how hard he fought to make sense of all these (Ahmad, 2014). He questions why the other family members acted differently and the meaning that all these reflected on his tribe.
Thirdly, Ahmad employs flashback extensively throughout this story. In the chapter, we are introduced to Bani and the experiences he had with his grandmother. Through all the problems in life, Bani finds his grandmother as the closest cling he had. We are also shown Bani’s most moving words around the death of her grandmother. He was only eleven years old when the whole episode unfolded (Ahmad, 2014). As such, we see the confusing childhood that he had. He narrates the moment like it was occurring in the present, yet these are events which took place several years ago.
The playwright seeks humanization in the story by giving voice to those existing as types in the official imagination. He employs this technique in the best way possible by giving each character their sense of humanity. At the very end when Tayta dies, the reader is shown the humanized side of Bani. We are told, Bani realized he never really knew anything about his grandmother’s past (McWilliams et al., 2013). It is as if, he is regretting having distanced himself from her due to her illness. This indicates that underneath the soul which appeared to be rebellious and carefree, there is some humanity present in Bani.
The playwright also uses allegory in this short story to communicate his message. We see this in the way he used the characters in the narrative to represent larger humanistic traits. The main allegory presented in this story is bravery, more so as depicted by Bani. He is only eleven years old, but he is brave enough to question why he was different (McWilliams et al., 2013)). He also, bravely faces the loss of his grandmother and attempts to make peace with it and move on. He resonates back through his life history to help him understand her grandmother even though she was dead. This is an act of bravery.
The other literary tool that Ahmad uses in this story is symbolism. He uses the characters in the play to represent the Arab-Australian Muslims and the plight that they go through. Among these plights are terrorist conspiracy and sexual assault. He uses the characters to introduce the customs and life of, ‘The Tribe.’ This symbolizes a small group of Muslim sect who fled to Australia just before Lebanon’s civil war (Roose, 2016).
Bani become a key component of this last story due to an important moment of his development. He uses Bani to convey honesty and directness in his writing. We see Bani being honestly distant with his grandmother due to her ailing. This kind of honesty is again shown when Bani realizes that he should have been closer to his grandmother to truly understand and learn important things about his linage. Bani is directly used here as a symbol of honesty, a characteristic that the larger Muslim community in Australia possible possess (Roose, 2016).
In this last chapter, the quirky characterization that Ahmad uses is not only for pleasure but also to explore a psychology which i...