Document Type : Research paper
Authors
1 teacher at raziuniversity
2 teacher
Abstract
Contemporary war literature, especially in the Middle East, is often known for its heavy and tragic narratives; however, the presence of children in these narratives adds a new layer of meaning and social criticism to the text. Meanwhile, black humor, with a bitter and painful laugh, presents a picture of the suffering, anxiety, and emptiness resulting from the experience of war and its consequences. This article, using a descriptive-analytical approach and with a special focus on the impact of war on children, examines the humor of tragedy in the context of social criticism in two selected stories - "Al-Jabna al-Hollandiya" and "Shazaya" - from the collection Daftar al-Harb by Mamdouh Hamada al-Suri (1959). In these two stories, this author, by weaving humor and tragedy together, depicts the experience of children in a war-torn environment in a special way. The importance of this research lies in showing that literature can, by combining tragedy and humor, provide a platform for a deeper understanding of the human consequences of war and a warning about the fragility of future generations. The results of this study show that in "Dutch Cheese", the child, amidst forced migration and the fall of the city, is still obsessed with breakfast cheese; a simple desire that turns into a humorous and tragic narrative of poverty and social injustice, and the story of "Shazaya" narrates the story of children who turn the fragments of war into games and bets; where death becomes a toy. Also, in both stories, the phenomenon of the "war child" is a tool for social criticism; on the one hand, the child is a victim of violence and deprivation, and on the other hand, with his unconscious humor, he reveals the normalization of violence and the meaninglessness of war.
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