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The Obstacle of Migration: Land of Oranges Essay

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Obstacles of migration The way we battle through adversity and recover can often times define who we are. But sometimes no matter how you battle through adversity, coming out on top is impossible. This problem is expressed in the short story The Land of Sad Oranges by Ghassan Kanafani which reveals a story of the journey and settling of a family exiled from their homeland of Palestine. This family constantly recalls oranges and orange trees, which were very prevalent in their homeland. The oranges served as the physical and constant reminder of the families homeland, and the author uses the significance of the motif to show the obstacles faced by the people who are forced to move out of their country into their new home.
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When the narrator see his father’s eyes imagining all the orange trees he left behind, the emotional hardship of accepting the loss of their homeland is presented.
The oranges show the final obstacle the family must suffer through as a result of their migration. The final scene when the narrator finds a family member lying on a table with an orange next to it, “ The orange was dried-up and shrivelled” (144). As discussed previously, the orange represents the homeland of the family. However, the memories and good times associated with the homeland is what is important. The realization of this loss is what seemed to be the final obstacle. It’s easy to relate the life cycle of an orange to their eventual sentiments. An starts out as a mere flower that emerges into a full and ripe fruit, just as this homeland was the grounds in which they shared and grew up on. Once the family left their homeland, they left behind their memories just as if we left behind an orange and were unable to eat it. However, as the orange begins to shrivel up and die, the orange loses all meaning. Just as the memories and thoughts established as a child start to disappear in a saddening fashion at the end of the short story. The oranges used throughout the book that related back to their homeland were used to show the obstacles that the family was put through migrating from their Palestinian home.

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