"Come back my friend We are all waiting for you..."
- Letter from Gaza
Ghassan Kanafani's Men in the Sun portrays a view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that not many have witnessed. The short story centers around three men, Abu Qais (the oldest with a family), Assad (the strongest and most cunning) and Marwan (the youngest, at 16, and most naive). These men all meet in Basra, Iraq under the guidance of lorry driver Abul Khaizuran, who offers to smuggle them to Kuwait for a manageable price compared to others in the same business around town.
Although the story's climax centers on the death of the three Palestinian men inside of the water tankard, the story is not necessarily about their journey. What Kanafani's story really focuses on are the reasons why each of these men has risked their life in such a way as to be smuggled in a blistering hot water tanker in the middle of the day to get to Kuwait. To each man, Kuwait is seen as a land of prosperity. Abul Qais wants to provide for his family after being displaced from their residence, and business is booming in Kuwait compared to many other places in the region. Assad seeks fortune and the opportunity to buy himself a little more time away from marrying a woman that he does not necessarily want to be with. Marwan, perhaps the most interesting out of all of the characters, has left school in order to provide for his family. Where his brother, Zakaria, used to send money home from Kuwait, he does not anymore because he has gotten married. It is up to Marwan now to 'be a man' and try his shot at the realities of life.
A quote by Abul Khaizuran to the young Marwan sums up the focus and tragedy of this story..."I'm glad you are going to Kuwait, because you will learn many things there. The first thing you will learn is: money comes first, and then morals."
Indeed, when Khaizuran dropped the three dead bodies off, he made sure to return to them in order to pick up the money which he was owed for attempting to smuggle them into Kuwait...into the supposed land of prosperity. Money comes first, and then morals...
