Men in the Sun () is a novel by Palestinian writer and political activist Ghassan Kanafani (1936–72), originally published in 1962.Men in the Sun follows three Palestinian refugees seeking to travel from the refugee camps in Iraq, where they cannot find work, to Kuwait where they hope to find work as laborers in the oil boom.
Summary
Three Palestinian men of different generations seeking work arrange with a clerk in Basra to be smuggled to Kuwait by a driver. The men are treated gruffly and are humiliated by the process. They decide instead to arrange for travel with a lorry driver, a Palestinian man who was surgically castrated in the 1948 war. The men are forced to ride in the back of the truck across the desert on their way to Kuwait. At several check points, the men hide in a large, empty, water tank in the stifling mid-day heat as the driver arranges paperwork to get through. At the last check point, within easy driving distance of the travelers' ultimate goal of Kuwait, the driver is held up by check point bureaucrats who tease him over a rumor of his sexual hijinks. Once the driver is able to drive past the check point, he opens the tank to let the men out, only to find they have died.
Characters
Abu Qais: The first of the three Palestinian men migrating to Kuwait introduced. Abu Qais is the oldest character who has memory of the 1948 Nakba, often reminiscing on the ten olive trees he once had in Palestine. He is uneducated and characterized as easily frustrated and helpless. Abu Qais is pushed to find work in Kuwait when he is shamed by his younger friend, Saad, and his wife, Umm Qais to provide a better life for his children. Assad: Introduced in the novella as he is negotiating with the proprietor over the price to be smuggled into Kuwait. He has been cheated before by a smuggler who left him stranded around H4. His uncle loaned him money to travel so that he will eventually marry Nada, the Uncle's daughter but Assad doesn't want to marry her. He has had run-ins with authorities due to his political activities. Marwan: The youngest character at only 16 years of age. He wishes to pursue his education and become a doctor but must find work in Kuwait to support his family since his father has abandoned them for his new wife and his brother has stopped sending money after getting married. Abul Khaizuran: The lorry driver who agrees to smuggle the three men. He tells fantastic tales of his agile driving and strong repute, but the memory that continually haunts him and remains unrevealed to any other characters is his surgical castration ten years before as a freedom fighter. He is disillusioned by the national cause and "wishes only for money". In the final chapter, he is held up by bureaucrats that tease him about a rumor involving him and a prostitute and the three men die in the tank due to this needless delay.
Themes
The most notable themes are impotence, masculinity, exile, and loss. Each of the three men navigates power dynamics differently as exemplified in their pleads and demands with the smuggling proprietor. Abu Qais helplessly "throws himself on the damp earth" when he can't negotiate the price, Assad asserts that he will pay the smugglers only after arriving in Kuwait, and Marwan threatens to tell the police about the proprietor's smuggling business if he doesn't drop the price. Abu Khaizuran seems to enjoy relative power and ease of mobility because of his boss' repute and access to the lorry but he is impotent from a surgical castration he endured ten years prior. Crossing the border into Kuwait, the three men must hide in the insufferable tank while Abu Khaizuran gets his papers signed but he is delayed by the bureaucrats teasing him for supposedly being serviced by a prostitute. Fadl Naqib interprets that this plot where "the truck driver is suspected of sexual hijinks even though he's sexually impotent symbolizes the Arab armies suspected of a passion for war and ravishing Israel even though they were militarily impotent." The fact that none of the three men are privy to Abul Khaizuran's injury may also represent Palestinians duped by their ineffective leadership.