I finished reading Ghassan Kanafani’s short novel “ما تبقى لكم” or “Whatever is left for you,” not too long ago. It is a very interesting book, just like all of Kanafani’s books. However, it is interesting in the way that it links the characters’ personal issues and problems that might seem coincidental or relevant only to those characters, to the bigger issue. It suggests that these sort of small, insignificant, personal issues would not have happened to these characters if they were not under occupation which produced a great ripple effect. Furthermore, it shows that these personal issues that changed the lives of the characters are not solely associated with these characters, where similar and different problems as a result of the occupation affected the personal lives of all people.
In the book, the occupation of Yaffa had a ripple effect on the main characters and their family, the father died, the family separated, as the mother fled to Jordan, while Hamed and Mariam, the siblings, ended up living in Gaza with their aunt who later died.
The tragic personal outcomes that followed, resulted from these factors, Kanafani emphasizes this by referring to the absence of the mother throughout the story, saying on the characters’ tongues “this wouldn’t have happened if your mom was here.” The main thing that happened, which could have been prevented had the mother been in the house is that Mariam got raped by Zakaria, a man Hamed describes as filthy and traitor. Hamed describes him as such because in the zionist camps, upon the capture of many young men, Hamed witnessed how Zakaria saved himself by leading the zionists to the person they were looking for, who was killed instantly after. The point is, Zakaria, rapes Mariam, and then he marries her. Mariam accepts this marriage for vague reasons that Kanafani hints at by referring to her “purity” and society. Hamed, on the other hand, is very much against this marriage, in a moment of desperation, he flees to the desert, desperate, trying to walk to his mother in Jordan who is his last hope. This might seem naive and unrealistic, Hamed does not really know where to look, he does not know where his mother is, he does not know how to contact her, and he does not know how to cross the desert in the first place or the direction that he should take. Nevertheless, his decision to leave, to find his mother shows his vulnerability, it shows the importance of having her around, it shows that he believes somehow that she will fix everything, that she would undo what happened. In the end, the story ends openly with Hamed in the desert sitting aimlessly across a zionist who he tackled and Mariam pregnant after killing Zakaria. This leaves Hamed possibly dead, Mariam with a baby without anyone to support her, the mother somewhere in Jordan, and the dad dead. Where once they were living in Yaffa together, the family broke down, separated, and their fates’ are left hanging by a thin wire that might break anytime.
Another thing that I have noticed in the book, is that the story is told from a couple of characters’ and things perspectives, Hamed, Mariam, the clock, and the desert, all give their thoughts on sometimes the same aspect. I liked this style. I think the clock is one of the characters because its time is greatly emphasized, Mariam could not sleep, eat or live when Hamed left for the desert, she kept hearing the clocks’ ticks. Both Mariam and Hamed were connected through an invisible string through time, Mariam’s clock is in her house, not allowing her to sleep, while Hamed has his watch on him, which he looks at aimlessly, desperately, while he crosses the desert.
The title of the story also interests me, at first I could not understand why it is called “Whatever is left for you,” but then I understood. It is titled this way because throughout the story, Kanafani sheds light on whatever is left for you (the characters) after the occupation, Mariam had Hamed, now what is left for her is the baby, and Hamed had Mariam and now he says that whatever is left for him is his mother. What is left for them is in a sense, nothing, or perhaps they convinced themselves of the fantasy that they have something left. Whatever scrapes of life remain, this is what is left for them.