Resilience And Endurance In Elizabeth Laird's A Little Piece Of Ground

Resilience and endurance are required to survive in a conflict zone, such as the one portrayed in Elizabeth Laird’s A Little Piece of Ground. However, one cannot be resilient without being enduring as well because endurance often leads to resilience. This is portrayed by Elizabeth Laird in the story. Enduring Israeli actions has led to resilience in Karim, Hassan and Hopper. This is demonstrated by the author in Karim’s experiences in the conflict zone, Hassan’s endurance, and in the losses experienced by Hopper.
Karim’s experiences and endurance in Ramallah under Israeli occupation has led to his development of resilience. Karim, being the main character, has endured many events and Israeli actions, which in turn has developed resilience in …show more content…

When the family is talking about Israeli oppression, after the embarrassment of Hassan when he was stopped and forced to take of his clothes in public, and the theft of their olive farms by the Israelis because they are planning to expand their settlement, Hassan says, “‘Endurance, … That’s what takes courage. Decency among ourselves. That’s where we must be strong. When they steal from us and try to humiliate us, the real shame is on themselves’”(Laird 58). This shows his resilience despite being embarrassed in front of his family and other strangers, and that endurance is the path to opposing as he knows that they are doing it to humiliate them and try and make them take hasty decisions and make a mistake. When Hassan is angry that no-one is buying any electronics from the shop, he says “‘I went down and opened up the shop today,’ he said in a quieter voice. ‘I looked round at all my stock and, I tell you, it broke my heart. Everything’s covered in grit and dust. It looks terrible. Neglected. Unsealable. All the years I’ve been building all the business up - all the work I’ve put in…’”(Laird 27). This quote was in a quiet voice and tone which implies that he was a bit sad and unhappy about what had happened to his shop. Despite that he orders a new stock for his shop, as it said at the end of the chapter. This means he is enduring the damage to his shop and being resilient by continuing his shop in these hardships. Hassan Aboudi has developed resilience similar to Hopper, except Hopper has experienced personal losses that led to his