The title “Land of Sad Oranges” made me giggle when I first read it- the childish image of oranges with Sharpie frowns running through my mind- but there is nothing funny about the plot of this story. It is about a family who is leaving Jaffa for a place called Acre, and eventually goes to a place called Ras Naquora in Lebanon. They were refugees abandoning their homelands because the Jews came to Palestine. They stayed very uncomfortably in Sidon for 3 nights and then the father somehow got money and bought a place on the outskirts of the city.
From what I can tell, the father had orange trees back home that he tended, because when the women had bought oranges in their journey, he looked at it despairingly. He was very angry at the political situation in their country and seemed to take it out on these foreign oranges. The children were sent out into the mountainside until midday to avoid being around for breakfast. One day someone had asked him for something, and he blew up and started frantically rummaging for a gun, saying he wanted to kill the children, and kill himself. After that, the kids ran away and no one asked for anything from that point on-if they were hungry, they kept quiet.
If You Were a Horse was most intriguing. The legend that a horse born with a reddish-mole-like spot on their body would kill someone close to them was what drove the father to fear his son. His wife was killed by a horse that had been born with such a spot on its side, and Abu Muhammad had told him to kill it or someone close to him would be killed, and he challenged the legend and lost his wife. His son, who had a reddish-brown spot on his skin as well, made h
im fearful for his whole life, as he told him at a young age, “If you were a horse, I’d shoot you.” Then in the end the father gets sick and needs surgery, and refuses to let his son, a doctor, perform the task. So during surgery, he told stories in his sleep about his childhood and what happened, and the surgeon was so intrigued that he almost lost concentration. So the son is walking away from the hospital and realizes that since he didn’t do the surgery, and the other doctor had gotten so distracted by the stories, that he probably had done something wrong and that would be the cause of his father’s death. This is so completely ironic, considering the father was afraid his son would kill him, but instead a doctor distracted by his unconscious stories would be the cause of his ill fate.
From what I can tell, the father had orange trees back home that he tended, because when the women had bought oranges in their journey, he looked at it despairingly. He was very angry at the political situation in their country and seemed to take it out on these foreign oranges. The children were sent out into the mountainside until midday to avoid being around for breakfast. One day someone had asked him for something, and he blew up and started frantically rummaging for a gun, saying he wanted to kill the children, and kill himself. After that, the kids ran away and no one asked for anything from that point on-if they were hungry, they kept quiet.
If You Were a Horse was most intriguing. The legend that a horse born with a reddish-mole-like spot on their body would kill someone close to them was what drove the father to fear his son. His wife was killed by a horse that had been born with such a spot on its side, and Abu Muhammad had told him to kill it or someone close to him would be killed, and he challenged the legend and lost his wife. His son, who had a reddish-brown spot on his skin as well, made h
im fearful for his whole life, as he told him at a young age, “If you were a horse, I’d shoot you.” Then in the end the father gets sick and needs surgery, and refuses to let his son, a doctor, perform the task. So during surgery, he told stories in his sleep about his childhood and what happened, and the surgeon was so intrigued that he almost lost concentration. So the son is walking away from the hospital and realizes that since he didn’t do the surgery, and the other doctor had gotten so distracted by the stories, that he probably had done something wrong and that would be the cause of his father’s death. This is so completely ironic, considering the father was afraid his son would kill him, but instead a doctor distracted by his unconscious stories would be the cause of his ill fate. 
4 comments:
It's amazing the supestitions some cultures have of simple things in life that we as humans have no control over. I kind of felt sorry for the fathe who harbored the superstition. It's really sad something so simple can have such an effect on lives.
The story about shooting a horse was, as you say, "ironic" and it seemed to harbor some kind of mystical element as well. I wonder if that was in any of the other stories...
I also was intrigued by the "If You Were A Horse" short story. I love your pictures!
I love the picture of the oranges, and I agree that "If You Were a Horse..." was an interesting story, probably my favorite one.
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